By Wes Rhinier

Many people often tell me they enjoy my letters in the paper and look forward to the next one. They immediately follow it up with the questions: Aren’t you afraid? Why do you do it? My response is always the same: It costs nothing to speak out, but remaining silent could cost you everything.

We are now faced with the government our forefathers warned us about. The sad thing is most people are oblivious to what is happening. They are all too happy to carry on watching their “American Idol,” “Dancing with the Stars” or other mindless TV shows. The sad fact is Americans will refuse to stand and defend their rights and freedom until the vast majority of them feel the pain.

Voting? How is that working out for you? Politicians get to Washington and feel untouchable and the vast majority of them betray everything they promised they would do. Voting is useless!

How many people are aware of the Patriot Act and the rights it destroys all in the name of keeping Americans safe? The NDAA? America is now lorded over by an oligarchic ruling class. Republicans are indistinguishable from Democrats. For voting majorities, who resoundingly rejected Obamacare in 2010 and all Obama policies in 2014, there is currently no place to go.

Benjamin Franklin once stated, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither and will lose both.” That moment in time is here, Americans. Freedom is under assault. Open your eyes and recognize it. Obama stated that he wanted to fundamentally change America. Obama is not incompetent; he is destroying America more quickly than anyone could imagine. People say Obama is a failed presidency; I say he is succeeding at many goals he set.

Confronted with this information the next question always asked is: “What can we do about it?” That, my friends, is the million-dollar question. “Why don’t you run for office?” I wish I could. Our government has turned into something our founders never desired. The common man, except in rare cases, has no chance of getting elected to high office, thanks to all the corruption.

Americans spoke loud and clear at the last election. Obama said, “Make no mistake, my policies are on the ballot!” We overwhelmingly rejected those policies. Republicans are already breaking the promises they won office running on. Make no mistake. A major priority of the Republican majorities in the 114th Congress will be to con voters into believing that broken promises were kept or that failure to keep them was not their fault.

It’s frustrating, I know. I wish I could answer the question about what to do. Our founders laid out what to do — it’s in the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton in Federalist Papers 28 also stated what to do. These are not easy answers. Our government has become usurpers of the law. They have betrayed their constituents.

What can we do about it? Our children’s future, our grandchildren’s future, our country’s future are all at stake. Winston Churchill once said, “If you will not fight for what’s right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it’s better to perish than to live as slaves.”

Our Constitution, liberty, freedom, wealth, future and children are no longer at risk; the risk is past; they already are lost!

The question now is “What can we do?” Answer????

Wes Rhinier lives in Rowan County. 

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