The Pete Morin News Service--Editorial #16

Virtual People in a virtual Republic

A little over 220 years ago some rather influential folks got together to discuss, what they considered, taxation without representation. There main complaint was with King George III of England and they let their concerns be known directly to the Crown. The answer they received did nothing to assuage them of their fear that they were mere cogs in the wheels of a distant monarchy. Parliament and the King assured the colonists that they were indeed represented and this form of representation was known as ‘virtual representation.’ By being subjects of the Crown, regardless of whether they had a vote or not, they had, and were being, virtually represented. Needless to say the colonists disagreed with the Crown’s assessment.

Fast forward 220 + years to the present. Living in The People’s Republic of Massachusetts you could look at the Founder’s original complaint and surmise that we are in the exact same predicament. Those of us who espouse conservative thinking and look for a government that limits itself in scope and law have realized that we have no representation. Mindless liberal spending in the name of compassion and social justice has overwhelmed the idea of limited government. Backbreaking debt and unsustainable deficits have clouded our sight far into the future. Ted Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat will be filled by another liberal ‘do-gooder’ hell bent on bringing his, or her, rapturous form of social egalitarianism to the body politic. Those who may oppose such schemes are without compassion and to be ridiculed as uncaring and shortsighted. Their concerns are rooted in a past that has no relevance to the present day. With this agenda in mind the liberals will attack the benighted conservative carrion and pronounce all they accomplish as right and true.

So, are those of us who disagree with this agenda really represented in both the State House and the White House? I say no; I say we have been denied a voice in this despicable democratic takeover. Our concerns are not heard nor even listened to. Democrats don’t concern themselves with trivial niceties. They are on a mission. They will implement their form of retribution on what they consider the fortunate class because they must create divisiveness and rancor to have their nefarious plans take root. They care nothing about a Constitution or any other antiquated document that purports to place man and law in a civil setting. This is their goal; the power of a statist, born to lead a nation of lesser human beings.

And so it goes. We, of this lesser breed, only want those entrusted with power to be servants to the people; to have an allegiance to those people and to the document that defined our founding. But our hopes will go unrealized. We will survive with what possessions we have largely intact, but our liberty and freedom to choose our lifestyle will only be a dream of what might have been and what once was. We will be represented; we will be virtual people in our virtual country with virtual representation.