Guest Column by Burton Chertok
When the Constitution was formulated, a bystander asked the aged Benjamin Franklin after the signing “What kind of a government do we have?” to which he replied “A republic — if you can keep it.”
By that, he meant the people will not vote directly on the facets of their governance, but instead, they will vote to elect representatives to study all legislation, determine the best course for the people and vote in their best interests.
The reason for Franklin’s doubts was simply that he didn’t trust the elected representatives to vote for anything really unpopular no matter how right it was because that would cost him his lucrative seat at the table so, in a larger sense, having a faithless elected representative could be worse than having an easily influenced mob choose the nation’s path.
Current debt resulting in ghastly interest payments, government spending and unemployment are through the roof. Yet President Obama, in a most disgraceful display of irresponsibility, refuses to address cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that are the glaring, proven culprits simply because doing so would be unpopular. Further, he not only refuses to do so but openly mocks anybody who does so as to curry favor with the mob that the framers of the Constitution sought to circumvent.
Franklin’s fears have materialized. This nation is just going to have to feel the heat before it sees the light.
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