Those attending a City Council meeting this week were treated to the revealing sight of Democrats opposing democracy.
Democrats, Marxists and fascists are among those clamoring for the cancellation of public monuments. They are in an uproar over a proposal to let the people speak. If most Jacksonville residents were to vote to let the monuments stand, it would be an “embarrassment” to the city, one left wing activist insisted. Actually, the embarrassment comes from people who continue to try to divide other people along racial and other lines. History is history. The real history of the 19th century is that Republicans sought to end slavery and Democrats fought to keep it, later employing segregation to keep two races apart.
Thus, two of the reasons Democrats are leading the fight to alter history are control – always the main point — and to confuse people about their party’s history. Going back to the dawn of Western Civilization, in Greece and Rome, the people voted to decide public questions. This was democracy — and as clumsy and unwieldly as it was it was better than an aristocracy, as history would prove. But when America was founded, its learned leaders decided that a republic was a better solution. People would elect representatives to do the work of forming government policy.
In the Federalist Papers, James Madison said “… democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” When it comes to governing an entire nation, Madison was exactly right. Locally, however, there is always a place for hearing the voice of the entire population directly on contentious issues. Council Member Al Ferraro thinks the question of public monuments is one of those occasions. He proposes a vote on whether they should stay or go. In addition, the Unity Project is seeking to promote more recognition of people with black skin. A bill to tear down a statue in Springfield Park has been deferred by its sponsor.
Local democrats not only oppose allowing the people to choose, but they are also calling on some Republicans to aid their cause!
One local agitator demanded that several members of the council who have the same skin color should join him in supporting the revision of history. But two of those council members are Republicans. Why on Earth should they help Democrats?
Here’s a counter-proposal: All members of the council, no matter what color their skin, should let the people exercise a little democracy by voting on the issue.
