By State Rep. Jerry Madden
U.S. history shows us that when political forces of arrogance have forced unpopular government expansion on the people those very people rise up and lead the charge of not on my watch". Then the government of misdirection has been soundly defeated in the next election cycle. Americans have great concerns about the direction of our nation.
The national leaders have lost touch with the citizens. They are not listening. They have charted a course and taken steps the citizens loathe and fear. Some see no way to correct these political errors and chart a different course for America.
We need to be reminded to look at the great resilience our country has shown to such blunders of the past. In the end right has triumphed and the political forces of arrogance and misdirection have been soundly defeated. We have at least two examples in our history where seemingly irresistible forces have been defeated even after major legislative victories.
The first example was in 1798 the Federalists buoyed by political victory felt that our country must root out alien forces trying to move our country into entangling alliances. They also felt that we should stamp out any force that used character attacks or information that attacked political leaders.
The political leadership wanted these voices of dissent silenced and imprisoned. With their overwhelming majorities in Congress and with the
consent of the President they passed the Alien and Sedition Act. They tried to stamp out the opposition of the Republicans lead by Thomas Jefferson.
A growing grassroots political movement rose in opposition to these acts and within two years in 1800 these forces swept the Presidency and made large gains in Congress. They repealed the repugnant Alien and Sedition Act and in the process sent the Federalist Party who passed the bill into oblivion.
The second example occurred in 1854 when pro slavery elements in the Congress using their control of the Congress and with the support of the President felt it was time to overthrow the great compromises of 1820 and 1850 on which our government had dealt with the problem of slavery.
Senator Stephen Douglas proposed and with the help of the Democratic Party passed the Kansas Nebraska Act which totally changed the countries restrictions on the spreading of slavery and allowed slavery to expand into the Northern Territories under the guise of popular sovereignty". The vast majority of Americans opposed this change.
The Kansas Nebraska Act caused grass roots opposition to spring up and in Wisconsin and one of those groups was called the Republican Party. They were able to attract many leading northern political leaders to their cause including Simon Cameron Salmon Chase William Seward and an Illinois lawyer named Abraham Lincoln.
Even after the Supreme Court made the situation worse with the Dred Scott decision these forces rallied citizen support and in 1860 they swept to victory in the Presidential race.
The citizens said even with the threat of disunion we will not allow these unpopular changes to distort our country. In the end while our country was greatly transformed it was done by a political leader who taught the
citizens with his actions and persuaded them with his words.
Lincoln did not lead the county in a direction they did not support. He had the popular support we needed to make sure our country was placed above base partisan programs. And the Democratic proponents of Kansas Nebraska were destroyed as a political force.
Historically in a major crisis our citizens have been the backbone of our democracy. And while for a few years the forces that would have taken our country against the people seemed to have won the legislative day we can be very optimistic that once again the people will rise up and will deliver the same fate past generations have given to these forces that have misread and misdirected our great land.
Across this great nation voters in opposition to the expansion of government in Washington are rising up in unison to say No not on our watch."
And I for one have faith that in the end the people will prevail over misguided government once again.
Jerry Madden was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1992. He represents the 67th district of Texas that includes portions of southwest Collin County including Plano Dallas and Richardson.
