July 4, 2024

Independence Day

Who we elect is important, and I am thankful to God and those who sacrificed for the vote. Yet whoever wins any election, there are now many others who hold power without ever having been elected. Bureaucracies, both the ones which many have long seen as ominous, as well as those which seem innocuous, outlast presidencies and collaborate with private industry. Bureaucracies don't merely wield the power of force, but also the power of gold, and their influence has changed how we live our lives.

It is supposed to be we the people who determine the course of our nation, rather than bureaucracies which claim they know best. We are blessed by many true public servants, but we are beset by bureaucracies as a whole. Self-interest and the steady creep of regulation and influence results in actual infringements of the rights of the people whom the bureaucracies are sworn to protect. Voting is important, but whoever we elect, we need to make sure that our bureaucracies serve us, not we them. We need to prune before we find ourselves choked out and forced to obey evil decrees, repugnant whether promulgated by captured regulators or elected lawmakers. Our public servants themselves deserve better than the corruption of being given authority without checks and balances.

It is time to ask for changes of heart which lead to changes in practice. We can no longer assume that giving long tenure, large budgets, unchecked regulatory authority, and prosecutational ability, to anyone, elected or unelected, will leave our nation or our freedoms unscathed. Let's ask God this Independence Day to never allow ourselves to exchange one oligarchy for another, but instead to follow Him into the freedom of self-governance.