Self-governing Means the People are in Charge
Another St George of Floyd wannabe, a thug named “Neely,” has been appropriately punished for years of violent misbehavior, behavior that cannot be tolerated in a civil society.
The left, of course, calls for charges against the man who protected civilians from this thug. Ink is being spilled in discussions of the People taking the law into their own hands, both for and against.
So let’s understand where responsibility lies for law and order in a self-governing republic.
In a government of, by and for the People, it is the People who are responsible for their government. This is axiomatic and indisputable: If the government is in our hands, vessels OF the government are in our hands.
We the People hire public servants from amongst ourselves. We delegate to these hirelings the authority to perform the jobs for which we hire them: making law – legislating, enforcing that law – policing, and interpreting that law – judicial actions.
Responsibility, however, cannot be delegated. When these hirelings of the People refuse the authority delegated to them by the People, the responsibility for those actions our representatives made law remains with the self-governing People. If a contractor hires a painter to paint a wall and that painter fails to do so, the contractor fires him as he has refused the delegation and the contractor remains responsible for getting that wall painted.
When government refuses the authority delegated to them by the People to enforce the law for and against those whom the government serves, when our hirelings fail to protect the People from a lawbreaker, the responsibility for enforcement of laws made by and for the People falls to People.
When the People take their government into their own hands – the definition of a self-governing republic – and that government refuses the delegation of authority to execute the job of government, the execution of government REMAINS the responsibility of the People.
Yes, we will take the law into our own hands; we took the government into our own hands; making and enforcing laws is part of that government.
It is, after all, our law and our government; we do not work for simple hirelings. If they refuse to protect us – we will.
It’s our responsibility.
It’s our government.