What is the meaning of a 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people’?
That means that the government should be basically run by its citizens. That's why normal citizens run for offices, like representatives of state, and senators, and mayors, governors, and presidents.
“…and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” was the last line of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
From the Declaration of Independence:
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature’s GOD entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principals and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. “
We are all in some extent or another familiar with those lines from our Constitution. Most of us have grown up learning that the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, along with and including the Bill of Rights, was and to this day remains the basic law that governs the United States of America.
Government of the People, By the People, and For the People has always been understood to mean just exactly what it says. No further interpretation is necessary.
What this means is that Barack Hussein Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Eric Holder, and all their minions of would-be dictators are NOT the Government of the United States of America, We are. We the People are the real true Government of these United States.
The people in Washington are merely representatives that we have elected to try to run our government. They were sent there to represent us, not to govern or to rule over us, or to dictate any kind of government regulations. They have NOT been granted the power nor the authority to dissolve our Constitutional form of Government.
But that also implies that we have not only those Rights, but also the Responsibilities to maintain that government, not just our freedoms and liberties, but also to maintain and preserve our form of Constitutional Republic.
When we neglect those responsibilities and fail to exercise those duties required by all of us to preserve and protect our form of limited Constitutional government, then we are surrendering those Rights and responsibilities to others.
We have forfeited the rights of the People to be self-governed. We have handed over the rights and responsibilities of deciding what kind of government we will be ruled under.
The Government of The United States is no longer a government of the People, By the People, For the People, it becomes a People ruled by the Government. The Rights, Liberties and the Authority of the people have become subjugated and we will be forced to live under rules and tyranny of others who we do not chose nor do they intend to represent the People.
When that government becomes oppressive and repressive to the freedoms, liberties, and Rights of the People then it is our responsibility and indeed our solemn duty to throw off such a government.
Thomas Jefferson when asked, “What kind of Government do we have?” Jefferson replied “You have a Republic, if you can keep it.”
McKinley
Replies
Now before anybody here starts thinking about reaching for your guns, that’s NOT what I’m talking about. There is a better way. The US Constitution provides a solution.
The 5th Amendment to the Constitution says that no person shall be held for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury.
So the question is who may convene a Grand Jury? There is such a thing as a Citizen Grand Jury. Actually this little piece of information came from some of the members here on PFA. So I’m not taking the credit for this one. But the concept is valid and now we just have to figure out how to get someone like The Liberty Legal Foundation and Sheriff Joe Arpaio to look into it. A Grand Jury indictment could provide the means by which Obama and company could all be arrested and removed from office without having to impeach him and then try to dismantle all their legislation and corruption. And we will let them worry about firing the first shot.