YOUR VIEW: ‘We Must Stop Allowing the Media and Those in Power to Label and Divide Us’
By Josiah Gattle // January 7, 2021
By Josiah Gattle – Rockledge, Florida
As Young Republicans we condemn violence which threatens the security of our fellow Americans and our Republic. We support the restoration of order and reliance on constitutional principles to guide our lawmakers through this difficult time. We support free and fair elections and the auditing process to ensure every vote was counted.
The violence which occurred in Washington, D.C. interrupted the legitimate process of certifying, auditing, or debating the election. There are many election irregularities that should be investigated through the proper channels. As recently as 2018, we have seen how our elections could be thrown into confusion, which was the case in North Carolina’s 9th district.
Elected officials such as Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and Brevard’s own Bill Posey, have a duty to make sure that no state runs their electoral process contrary to the Constitution. We support these Representatives and Senators as they fulfill that sworn duty by ensuring that the Constitution was upheld and that the rights of their constituents were not violated.
There are large swaths of Americans who feel unheard due to perceptions of media bias. The power of our Republic has always rested with the people. Violence, like we witnessed yesterday, results when the people feel they do not have an effective way to express that power and effect change. The solution is not to storm the gates of the Capitol, but to walk out of our front doors and talk to our neighbors about the problems facing us today in our lives here at home.
As the Young Republicans, we focus on offering those who recognize the erosion of our individual rights and traditional principles a way to plug in and be the change, without needing to resort to violence. We understand that so many feel disenfranchised by what they have witnessed in the political process recently.
When large numbers disengage from politics because of this frustration it emboldens the swamp and provides a fertile breeding ground for more fraud and abuse. We encourage people of all ages to instead use the frustration they feel as a motivation to more fully engage with their civic duty.
We need more citizens who know their city councilmen and women and show up to meetings. We need more eyes on our school board, which has the responsibility to educate our next generation of leaders and power of taxation. We need more investment in the local levels of government where future state and federal representatives cut their teeth.
We must get back to neighbors engaging with neighbors. Each of us as Americans have hopes, fears, and aspirations beyond the confines of a simple political affiliation. Americans must rebuild their relationships and rally around the principles which have always made us American. We must stop allowing the media and those in power to label and divide us. As we have seen repeatedly in the past year, this division allows violence to fester.
We invite our fellow Americans to join us in rejecting media narratives and doing the hard work of relationship and coalition building.
We believe that millions of Americans are waking up the realization governments are just the sum of our aspirations, but the sum of our flaws. The power in our Republic with the People to determine which will prevail. We believe the desire for freedom and liberty unite us all and provide a common ground upon which we can, through constitutional channels, resolve problems big and small. Join us in standing for liberty and our Constitution.
– Josiah Gattle
