The 2012 Endorsement

Never an entity to brook the tide of popular convention, the Madison Conservative has taken note of the omnipotent practice of various and sundry scribes and editorial boards publicly announcing their endorsement of a specific candidate for elective office.

This willingness to subjugate one of this nation’s founding principles is indeed perplexing to the Madison Conservative. Men and women, far superior to those currently searching for temporary power via elective office, have willingly laid down their lives to protect the sanctity of the secret ballot.

This nation has fought to protect and defend this nations’ freedom to vote in an atmosphere of safety and security.

The belief that any individual or organization is somehow ordained to provide direction for the electorate is paramount to a non military coup de tat.

This is not hyperbole – it speaks to the right of the people to vote how they choose without fear of recriminations by the state. When the state endorses, by its silence, the mass media ability to announce support for a specific candidate then freedom itself is under assault.

Does publishing an endorsement count as a campaign contribution? Surely an endorsement lists a candidates positive record without veering into their negatives. In short, it is a political commercial.

For a nation looking for leadership, the willingness to allow such blatant attempts to pollute the public discourse is shameful.

For that reason, the Madison Conservative is hereby making its endorsement for President of the United States thusly:

VOTE.

The Madison Conservative has a preference for whom it will cast its constitutionally protected vote, but will extol that opinion solely from behind the curtain of the voting booth. The Madison Conservative has but one vote and will not consider revealing that precious gift from our founders and framers under any circumstances. That should be the nature of all votes and any attempt at endorsements.

Somewhere today, someone will willingly lay down their lives for the hope that maybe someday their posterity will be able to vote freely and unencumbered by the state.

Do not suffer the fate of those who once thought that any assault on freedom was a merely a question of degree.

It is with the first link of ambivalence that the chain of tyranny is formed.

The Madison Conservative Platform - Part 3

The continuation of the Madison Conservative platform now turns it attention to those for whom the platform is being constructed. Previous blog posts have discussed the need for campaign finance reform and the debate on term limits. It is now time to thrash out who will be able to utilize these particular reforms.

There has been much bluster and blather centering on what is cynically referred to by the full political spectrum as ‘voters’ rights’. In the wake of President Obama’s choice to circumvent the Constitution and Congress by unilaterally deciding to legislate by executive fiat, the need to clarify voting eligibility is more critical than ever, given the need to flex democratic self-rule muscle in the voting booth before such freedoms are expunged by a singular political will.

{It is critical to note that is was during the 2010 election cycle that a democratic governor (Beverly Perdue, D-NC) suggested bypassing elections so that the congress could act and vote without fear of electoral consequence.}

The question thus becomes clear – who may vote and how, and what, if any, identification should be considered viable for entering the voting booth.

The important distinction is that this particular plank of the platform will only encompass federal elections; the rights for individual states to regulate their own electoral processes must be respected under the tenth amendment.

First, the constitution stipulates that only those citizens who have attained the age of eighteen may vote.

The intriguing question then becomes what constitutes a ‘citizen’. Felons may not vote; their convictions make them ineligible The Constitution is absent a description on this point, and the Articles of Confederation speak only of ‘free citizens’, excepting ‘vagabonds, paupers and felons’.

It thus then falls to the electorate as a whole by way of our elected officials to make the determination in a country of over 300 million inhabitants who may be classified a citizen eligible to vote, and who does not hold that specific status.

We may look to elective office requirements as a guide, but it must be remembered that the Constitution provides that only natural born citizens may hold the office of President, yet naturalized citizens may still vote.

It is with an eye to that particular ambiguity that the Madison Conservative proposes specific legislation to address this murky issue. It may be attained solely through legislation; a constitutional amendment is not a thoughtful option for this issue.

The law would proceed with language somewhat as follows:

Any individual who has attained the age of eighteen and has not been convicted of a felony is hereby eligible to vote in any and all federal elections. Furthermore, any individual who would be qualified to attain United States citizenship may be considered eligible to vote in any and all federal elections.

That would address the specifics of who is eligible to vote.

The next concern is how to maintain the integrity of Election Day itself. The political parties have in essence conspired to help muddy the basic electoral process by promoting various and sundry electoral schemes. Early elections, mail –in elections, same day registrations and their ilk have done nothing but to distill the inherent responsibility of every citizen to have their voice heard. By diminishing the solemnity of the vote, it has lost much of its significance and allowed mischievous political theater. Many need only to recall the imbecility and outright stupidity of American election officials attempting to discern the intent of any given voter by the interpretations of ‘chads’.

The American example of democratic self-rule should never be subjected to such folly ever again. The Madison Conservative thus believes that there should be an encompassing national methodology for casting federal election votes, even it be nothing more than putting an “X” in a box.

The most sensitive point in this particular debate centers on the legality of requiring photo identification in order to vote.

The voices against such a requirement point out correctly that the right to vote is a constitutional right and the only specifically delineated constitutional right that would require such a manner of photo identification in order to authenticate the identity of the voter; in other words it would be the only right that mandates identification. The claim is made that on that point alone requiring a photo ID is somehow an infringement and an unnecessary burden on the voter.

The specious nature of that argument is clear to those on the opposing side. There is little activity that today does not require a valid photo ID, be it to board an aircraft, cash a check or gain admittance to an arena hosting a speech by the President. The omnipotent nature of ID’s makes the burden argument fallacious on its face. The maxim held that it would be better for one hundred guilty men go free than for one innocent man be wrongly imprisoned.

This is the hard fact of voting in the twenty-first century. The ability for political mischief when a simple photo ID can solve much of the potential problems is a requirement in an era when voting has been made more accessible, albeit more so in a manner that almost mandates a security back up.

In other words, it would be better to inconvenience one hundred voters to produce an ID than for one voter to have his vote negated by any manner or cause.

It is that simple.

The Madison Conservative Platform - part 1

The primary act required of a citizen in a democracy is to vote, to have their voice heard; to partcipate. The Greeks, who had a particular affinity for democratic self rule, had a term for someone who voluntarily excused themselves from their primary civil duty, who kept themselves separate and apart from the responsibilities of citizenship: ’idios’.

The English term ‘idiot’ is derived from this word.

One who does not vote, therefore, could easily and fairly be called an idiot.

The issue today, however, is that the entrenched  incumbent holders of temporary political power, with the conspiratorial help and often at the behest of their financial backers,  have so warped the sanctity of the vote that many may be forgiven for opting out of electoral politics, the potential for conscious idiocy notwithstanding. There seems today to be little, if any, recognition or outrage that democracy must never be for sale to the highest bidder, as if it were just another commodity to be bought, sold and traded. The lesson needs to be learned by the body politic that the American people will not tolerate such conduct at the price of their freedom and the freedom for her  posterity.

Therefore, the first plank of the Madison Conservative platform will address the current absurdities and corruption of the electoral process on the federal level by the infusion of unregulated and unnamed sources of campaign financing.

The recent Supreme Court decision in what is being called the “Citizens United” case in essence  gave voter status to all entities to promote whatever political candidate or cause they chose without falling under the current, albeit shameful, guidelines in place for specific campaigns. This has allowed the creation of amorphous entities and of so-called ‘super-pacs’ that allow candidates full deniability on the substance of any super-pac ads.  The sheer stupidity of this process should outrage the electorate.

To address this particular issue, we propose a constitutional amendment. This process is not taken lightly, but given the Supreme Court’s decision, it must me done and done by a majority of the state houses; Congress will clearly bury this even before the proposal is fully written. The constitution allows that the states may amend our governing document on their own, given a three-fourths majority approve of the amendment.

The proposed amendment would be written, in its entirety, as follows:

“Any person who by law cannot cast a vote for any federal elective office may not provide any financial support for any federal elective campaign.  Any person who by law can cast a vote for any federal elective office may contribute whatever financial resources they deem appropriate for any federal campaign. All monies donated to any elective campaign must be disclosed as per the laws Congress shall mandate.”

These specific sixty-eight words would restore true electoral democracy to the American people. This amendment would remove nebulous ‘super-pacs’, unions, corporations and all non human influences from the political landscape.

It addresses the fact that the Supreme Court has ruled that money is equivalent to speech but would remove the ability for any organization to corrupt the process without definitive accountability.

Equality, then and now.

The excerpt below from Dr. Kings’ speech, now universally identified as his “I Have A Dream” speech delivered August 28^th, 1963, is presented here for what the Madison Conservative believes it to be: the definition of the aspirations of all Americans to find the true sense of equality that generations of Americans have held as the ideal vision of America.

Please read it through; there are comments following the transcription excerpt, but they need to be read directly after Dr. Kings’ speech.

And so:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

                Free at last! Free at last!

                Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

There can be little added that would speak to the hopes and dreams of all Americans to make Dr. King’s eloquent vision of true equality become the reality all Americans should strive toward. The American electorate and body politic as a whole should demand of their elected officials to do all within their power to move America forward on this goal.

That all being said, it should then alarm, outrage and sadden the American people that President Barack Obama recently launched a new re-election campaign project entitled “African-Americans for Obama”.

The cynicism and cold political calculations involved in such an enterprise go beyond the ability to merely condemn within the confines of this blog.

It is hoped that Dr. King’s dream will not go quietly into that goodnight.