Page 19 - FOP Magazine August 2020

to “throw the bums out” at each election. Our system of rep- resentative democracy demands that our officials answer to us, not to a king or mob. Our system has three equal parts of government that all act as checks and balances if one part were to get too strong or go beyond its power. But are we seeing the seedlings of the undoing of all of this?
You may ask where the evidence is. We have discussed in past articles the issues related to governmental overreach regarding the COVID-19 pandemic — mayors and gover- nors who act as despots and decree what we should wear and where we should congregate. We have seen unrest in the streets, where an isolated incident in a faraway state can justify the destruction of property and the silencing of dis- sent. One can find it amusing how we are told we shall not attend a properly spaced religious service under the threat of imprisonment, but a disorganized crowd throwing bricks at police officers protecting a federal courthouse has no ef- fect on the spread of a pandemic. We have watched mobs destroy statues. Is there a reasonable argument one could make that says some statues should be removed? Perhaps. But there is a much stronger argument that says the decision should not be determined by a mob of very unimpressive young people who have no clue who Christopher Columbus is, but rather by a vote of the citizens. Our press, which we give special protections to, which should act as the watch- dog of the powerful, is not only silent, but acts essentially as cheerleaders for one side.
Freedom of speech is under assault. If you so much as
question the actions of public officials or a 20-year-old an- archist with a bat, you are branded a racist. We have heard the stories of people losing their jobs, their livelihood, be- cause they had the audacity to fly a flag of the opposing par- ty or post in favor of one opinion over another. There is a ludicrous plan to defund the police that is actually getting traction throughout our country. Is our democracy under siege? Have we hit that tipping point?
A better quote by Lincoln is his famous speech in which he is credited with saying that “America will never be de- stroyed from the outside. If we lose our freedom it will be because we destroyed it ourselves.” (Interestingly, Lincoln never used those exact words, but it is extrapolated or para- phrased from a speech he gave in Springfield in 1838. The content of the speech is essentially the quote, so let’s give Old Abe his due.) Could our demise be from our own doing? Do we have the power to defeat any enemy beyond our bor- ders, but are we powerless against a mob? It is agreed that we have problems and will continue to address them in a considered, reasonable way, but does that mean we should scrap the whole idea of America? I pose this question not to members of the Chicago Police Department, who act as the protectorate of our democracy each and every day, but rather I pose that question to the mob.
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