Is a great American tragedy on the horizon?

Today, July 4, the day we celebrate the birth of America, I am reminded of the potential of a great American tragedy that could occur on Nov. 8, 2016.

Millions of Americans will (or will not) participate in a process that is granted to only a select few on the face of the earth. Many will forget, or be unaware, that millions have died, tens of thousands are now dying and countless more will die in pursuit of the chance to exercise a privilege that tens of millions of Americans take for granted or ignore regularly – the constitutionally guaranteed, government-protected right to cast a vote prompted by, and known only to, the conscience of the individual voter.

The miracle that is America can continue only under the following conditions: the American people remain free to govern themselves and are responsible enough to do so.

Said another way, the responsibility for the continued existence of America rests in the hands of We the People.

A unique document known as the Declaration of Independence points out that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." That is the genius, the secret and the power – as well as the potential for the great weakness – of America. As President Lincoln pointed out, ours is a "government of the people, for the people and by the people."

When the people are not allowed to govern themselves, societies are held together in the way the former Soviet Union was held together for more than 70 years – with secret police and brute force.

If a free people do not govern themselves wisely and justly, but use this freedom as a license for immorality, or as a means to vote themselves truckloads of goodies from the public treasury, then the collapse of liberty, and a resultant bondage, is just around the corner.

It has been proven scientifically that a vacuum cannot exist in nature. If American citizens do not participate in their political system, a republic, then a vacuum is created and government of the people will be replaced with government over the people.

More than 200 years ago, it is asserted that an historian named Alexander Tytler bemoaned the fact that the "American way of life" might not long endure. His reasons were chillingly accurate: "[P]eople will invariably hand over their sovereign responsibility and freedom to the government that promises the most benefits…"

He continued, "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority only votes for candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result, a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship."

Does any of that sound familiar?

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At this point, let me interject something that many younger Americans may not be aware of: We are not a pure democracy. While we do enjoy a form of democracy, we are a democratic republic. This means that the citizenry elects representatives to express the citizens' point of view and these representatives are "public servants," there to serve the community, and nation, at large.

America, as a republic, is and has been undoubtedly one of the world's greatest civilizations. But, here is an extremely interesting observation by the aforementioned Alexander Tytler: "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."

In previous governments – the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans and even among the Europeans – certain classes of nobility or landowners, alone, were given a measure of self-determination. America is the first example in human history of a nation where the people (except slaves, for a comparatively short period) were given the right to vote, to elect their own representatives and decide their own political fate. After a Civil War to ensure it, the original American dream was fulfilled, entrusting the great American people with their own destiny.

Properly viewed, America is an amazing experiment but today, July 4, America is almost 240 years old. Could it be subject to the following cycle?

Nations progress through this sequence:

from bondage to spiritual faith;

from spiritual fate to great courage;

from courage to liberty;

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from liberty to abundance;

from abundance to complacency;

from complacency to apathy;

from apathy to dependency;

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from dependency again into bondage.

– Alexander Tytler

Please keep in mind: It is not the government or the Congress but your government and your Congress; they are your senators, your representatives and your president, and they work for you, thus far.

I encourage you, entreat you, with all the earnestness I possess: Please register and vote.

And, please, please vote intelligently and wisely, not just according to party lines but according to the lines dictated by wisdom and a clear conscience – and perhaps God (will continue to) bless America.

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