GOVERNMENT UNDER CONTROL

Written by Todd Vaughn

President James Madison once stated it beautifully:

“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

This is the ever-recurring dilemma that confronts the “great American experiment.” One must ask oneself… is this endeavor even possible, when it requires the assumption that the will of an imperfect electorate can accurately be portrayed through the free and fair elections of government officials? And once the election is decided, what prevents these also-less-than-perfect chosen leaders from serving themselves (and their friends and donors) rather than the citizens that elected them? Is it even possible for “the government to control the governed, and in the next place be obliged to control itself?”

And how do we enable the government to perform this feat?

Well, to begin with, we must have full confidence in the integrity of our elections. I’m not going to articulate what free and fair elections must include because you can easily look at the checklist for ENDVBM. Incidentally, it’s the same list that the Trump Administration (and anyone else with common sense) is promoting! Just saying! Without our elections being 100 percent secure, we have already failed the test… and it only gets worse from there! Once the citizenry begins to lose faith in the election process, the number of those who are willing to vote begins to rapidly decline. We clearly see this happening in counties throughout Oregon, and that certainly includes this one. The percentages of eligible voters that actually cast a ballot in any given election can be as low as !8%, and is seldom above 60%, and that doesn’t account for the thousands that don’t even bother to register.

The result of this tragedy is that the people who hold political power throughout Oregon… and most certainly in Douglas County… decide who gains entrance into the elected realms of “public service,” and who can simply never garner enough support (votes). The result is that fewer people are willing to run for office, and fewer people are actively voting.

Oregonians have certainly “enabled the government to control the governed,” but we have failed to enforce our government’s “obligation to control itself.” A small group of us here in Douglas County have taken it upon ourselves to become “the protectorate” of free and fair elections. We have been labeled everything from “self-appointed watchdogs” to “divisive disruptors,” but we refuse to be intimidated. We know that without government transparency/accountability, and without the assurance of free and fair elections (see Vaughn v Loomis), we will never enjoy the great blessing of “self-governance” that our Founding Fathers risked everything to make possible.

We call ourselves RUCPAC and we have two fantastic candidates running for the office of County Commissioner. Steve Hammerson is running for Position #3, and Samantha Frost is running for Position #2. These two candidates are exactly what this county needs to get back to the vision that James Madison so clearly articulated, and they will re-establish trustworthy elections as well as open dialogue with WE THE PEOPLE!