The Power of the People

We often hear the complaint that our government is not responsive to the will of the people.

I understand why that is said. 

However, if there is a disconnect the responsibility rests more on the people than the politicians.

The people are sovereign in our system. Their power is absolute  Unfortunately, too many people don't believe it. The simple fact is that politicians have no power unless the people provide it.

A politician is NOTHING unless they are elected. They only have power if they hold office. They cannot hold office unless they get more votes than their opponent.

Therefore, a politician is ALWAYS going to be focused primarily on gaining (or retaining) that power.

Laws that do not have public backing do not survive over the long term. Lawmakers who make laws that people do not support do not stay in office very long. Politicians who do not do the will of the people soon need to find other employment.

This seems to be lost on too many people who complain that they have no influence or power in the affairs of state. It may seem that way when you are just one vote. However, those votes add up quickly.

The reality is that the people too often lack the organization and voice to wield their power effectively.

Too many people do not raise their voices and those that do are disorganized.

People have the right to vote, but outside of Presidential election years, voter turnout is usually a small percentage of eligible voters.

For example, only 37% of eligible U.S. citizens voted in all of the elections of 2018, 2020 and 2022.

On the other hand 30% of eligible voters did not cast one vote in any of those three elections.

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/07/12/voter-turnout-2018-2022/

They are no match for the political class. If there is no accountability politicians will do as they please or as special interests dictate.

However, every once in awhile, the full power of the people is revealed.

We saw it this week.

The U.S. Senate worked for the last four months behind the scenes on what was supposed to be a border security bill that was to be attached to a Ukraine and Israel funding bill.

GOP Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had named Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma to be the chief negotiator for the Republicans in discussions with the Democrats on the contents of the bill.

The political class and mainstream media had been in overdrive for several weeks claiming how this border security bill was going to make a big difference in curbing illegal immigration.

Joe Biden claimed that his hands were tied on doing anything about the border unless this bill passed. He needed more power and money to act.

Left unsaid was the fact that every problem at the border right now can be traced back to unilateral executive actions that Biden took when he took office.

It is shocking to see what Biden's reckless policies have created.

Biden now says he has no power to undo what he already did by executive order?

The political class thought that they had all their ducks in a row for passage of the bill.

However, details about the bill started being released and analyzed by various people on X.com. (another reason to thank Elon Musk for his purchase of the platform and his commitment to free speech). 

The biggest detail in the bill's provisions is the the flow of migrants would only be curtailed when illegal encounters at the border surpassed 5,000 per day (measured over a 7-day period).

In other words, it was potentially giving a free pass for over 150,000 illegals to enter the United States every month. That is almost 2,000,000 per year.

For context, consider that current law only allows for about 1,000,000 LEGAL immigrants to enter the United States per year.

It also is worth remembering that during the Obama administration the head of HHS, Jeh Johnson, stated that 1,000 illegal crossings per day was a crisis in that it was overwhelming the system.

As details and analysis were released (much of it on X.com because the mainstream media and other social media sites censored the truth) it did not take long for the Republicans in the House (who all face elections every two years) to run away from the bill.

The same thing eventually occurred in the Senate where even Mitch McConnell who appointed Lankford eventually was forced to state he was voting against what effectively was his own bill.

Source: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/06/congress/border-senate-mcconnell-schumer-ukraine-aid-00139925

But after four months of border policy negotiations, which McConnell had personally called for and repeatedly supported, the GOP leader said the deal lacks support in his conference. And he noted staunch opposition from House Republican leadership.

Two days ago the Republicans in the Senate officially dropped the "border security" bill altogether .

Supporting the bill was simply too risky for their political futures.

And without a political future they have no power as that is the only currency of a politician.

We are witnessing a similar dynamic involving the Texas border and the Biden administration's attempts to get the state of Texas to roll back its enforcement efforts there.

They argue that immigration enforcement and administration is reserved to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution.

However, that ignores another responsibility that the federal government owes to the states.

Source: https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-4/section-4/

What do you call 8 million illegals crossing into the United States in three years?

The Biden administration even got a Supreme Court injunction to allow them to stop what Texas was doing to protect its border with their own law enforcement resources including the National Guard.

However, the Biden administration has been treading very cautiously on the issue. They clearly do not want confrontation with the state enforcement groups.

They certainly don't want video of federal agents confronting National Guard units from Texas and other states for the "crime" of trying to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States.

Why?

Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4422273-immigration-overtakes-inflation-top-voter-concern-poll/

Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/01/31/bloomberg-poll-biden-immigration-trump

Source: https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/joe-biden/immigration

The People have the power to direct policy and move the politicians to their will.

Too few take it seriously.

We saw this week how it can work in the United States.

It was even more apparent in Europe where farmers rose up against climate rules, rising costs and red tape that are affecting the agriculture sector.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-eases-farming-demands-in-2040-climate-proposal/

It appears the politicians are listening in Europe.

Source: https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1755334094508917186

Where do we go after the 2024 election?

That is totally up to the people who vote.

Do we continue down the current path where it seems we are careening from one disaster to the next?

Or do the people send a loud and clear message so that all politicians get the message?

Are there enough clear thinking voters left to even understand the danger the country is in?

We will find out in November.

The only thing I know for sure is that the People have the power to get anything they want if they say it loud enough in sufficient numbers.

Politicians either listen or they do not survive.

That is the Power of the People.