The public has been increasingly hard on the Obama administration. While the pundits may say ridiculous things every now and then, it’s time to confront a recent comment about using 18th century tactics in modern politics.
Stephen Broden, a Republican congressional candidate in Dallas, Texas, said he would not rule out a “violent overthrow of the government” if the coming elections did not bring about adequate change in U.S. government.
Broden even went further saying, “We have a Constitutional remedy and the Framers say if that don’t work, revolution.”
Yes, according to the Dallas Morning News he even said the previous statement in broken English.
Grammar aside, I think this raises an important point in elections: if you’re running for office, know your history.
Of course, the United States revolted against England, but in reality it took a long time. Even after the revolution, the founders placed rules and regulations in place to make sure that any major change to our nation would come about gradually and minimize harm.
The U.S. revolutionary John Paul Jones even said, “An honorable Peace is and always was my first wish! I can take no delight in the effusion of human Blood; but, if this War should continue, I wish to have the most active part in it.”
Mr. Broden must’ve passed over that quote. However, Jones wasn’t the only framer to advocate war as a last option.
Joseph Story, another early American, wrote in his Commentaries of the Constitution, “It is important also to consider, that the surest means of avoiding war is to be prepared for it in peace.”
Although these are just two examples, it’s safe to say the majority of the founders advocated peace as the first plausible option to change, and violence as the last.
It also took a long time for the war to even commence. The Sugar Act, for instance, was the first act that the British government enacted toward the colonies, but it took 12 more years, a series of other acts, a small massacre, a tea party, and a significant rise in colonial interest before the Declaration of Independence was written.
Keeping that in mind, how many years has President Barack Obama been in office, Mr. Broden? He hasn’t even served one term yet.
Isn’t spending what the public (and Tea Party) has been whining about? Perhaps Mr. Broden forgot that George W. Bush, a member of his own party, was the one who substantially raised U.S. spending and signed into law the first infamous stimulus bill.
Maybe it slipped Mr. Broden’s mind that Bush, during his last term, increased federal discretionary spending by 48.6 percent.
What else did Bush do, Mr. Broden? Oh, yes, he cut taxes. Any economist will tell you that if the government spends more money than it collects, the national debt will rise.
Luckily for the Republicans, Stephen Broden will probably not win the election. Because he is running in the profoundly Democratic 30th congressional district, he won‘t be a problem.
The real problem is that the media is giving him coverage because of his ridiculous statements, and there is no doubt in my mind that some, even if they are a small minority, will embrace what he says as the truth.
When falsities become facts, dangerous things can happen because believing in misguided history will hurt the ways in which you react to the present.
If our government fails to remember how President Warren G. Harding pulled the U.S. out of a deep recession in the early 1920s, or how President Ronald Reagan pulled the U.S. out of a catastrophic recession in the early 1980s, it will have a difficult time accurately reacting to our present recession.
Send your revolutionary remarks to spmccaul@asu.edu
