THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson      Red Bluff Daily News   6/19/2012

Local sheriffs, standing for Constitution

It’s simply called “Support Rural America Sheriffs’ Event,” to be held this coming Saturday at the fairgrounds’ (air conditioned) Home Arts building – gun show and fiddle contest venue. Doors open at 12:30; the program begins with the flag salute at 1:30; admission is free. Tehama County’s own Sheriff Dave Hencratt is hosting a panel of “Constitutional Sheriffs” who will address attendees on their unique challenges and guiding principles navigating the high calling of serving their constituents’ and citizens’ public safety, service and, increasingly, the roadblocks thrown in their way by state and federal agencies.

Why, you might ask, does “rural America” need support, and what do local sheriffs have to do with the United States Constitution? First, this event is sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots of Tehama County, Yreka, Redding and Corning, as well as Scott Valley Protect Our Water and Siskiyou Water Users Association. Take a few minutes to check out these websites: “PieNPolitics.com” and “SupportRuralAmerica.com” and, even if you can’t attend on Saturday, explore the content, links and issues, bookmark them and return to learn of coming events and issues. Call 527-6915 for questions or vendor info.

Would it surprise you to find out that the entire efforts of the many Founders and Framers of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were devoted to enshrining and protecting the individual citizen from the ravages and abuses of despotic, powerful national governments? Would it occur to you that the most powerful offices of public order and law enforcement that they envisioned were local and municipal sheriffs and police?

Those brilliant men had the burning desire to craft, or “constitute,” government at the federal, state and local level that was sufficiently reined in and bound by law that the individual citizen, that citizen’s property, indeed everything that that citizen created in the “pursuit of happiness” was sacrosanct and shielded by inviolable restrictions against government. They had witnessed, and had learned from history, what despots, kings, rulers (benign or not) and tyrannical mobs were capable of in the course of pursuing even the most well-intentioned (though usually not) designs for those under their rule or sway.

If you have read or listened to Mark Levin’s “Ameritopia” you know that man has, for thousands of years, sought out ideal, or utopian, forms of government, with the wisest of overlords and their equals formulating the best means and structures to guide, more often to mandate and force, all members of society to do what is best for all. Even the most beneficent of kings would hardly want less than that for his kingdom’s subjects.

Levin showed, through quotes from their works, how Plato’s ‘Republic,’ Thomas Hobbes’ ‘Leviathan,’ Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’ and Karl Marx’s ‘Communist Manifesto’ all did just that in their respective visions of an ideally ordered society and government. Our Founders and Framers also knew what all free men and women (set aside for the moment indentured servants and slaves) had come to cherish in this New Land of colonies, towns, farms and enterprise: The unheard of freedom to pursue their individual dreams and designs for supporting themselves and their families.

They began to believe, dream and ultimately act to realize a new kind of constitutionally ordained society of productive people liberated from far-off despots, mob rule or colonial powers. They drew inspiration from such thinkers as John Locke and Charles Montesquieu, who’d written on the philosophical underpinnings of representative self-government. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of the marvel of seeing Americans act in concert to remedy the challenges they and their communities faced, without waiting for permission, authority, blessing or resources from a far off central official or agency.

Perhaps you get a sense of how far from the original vision and reality of a land of hope, individual freedom and opportunity America has wandered. In the Federalist Papers, wherein our Founders elaborated on the principles enshrined in the Constitution, it was explained how difficult it would be for basic political elements – the individual and local governments – to fall under the tyranny of the federal state. Even worse, having the power of that state become a tool for one group, or faction, of people to force their will on another group, taking from them the fruits of their labor for the benefit of those who had no claim to it. You get the idea.

That’s where local, particularly rural, sheriffs should be the enforcers of law applied to the land and citizens within their counties’ borders. Their interests and priorities most closely represent their citizen voters. The Constitution contains no provision for federal police or SWAT teams under the purview of the EPA, DEA, Department of Education, Homeland Security, Interior, Immigration or any other agency, which can ride roughshod over local citizens or law enforcement.

Conflicts arise, however, over the fact that the federal government, beginning about a hundred years ago, assumed control over ever-more-vast expanses of land in the western states, land that had been locally or privately held. Local governments and law enforcement thus find themselves the figurative tail of the dog. Fact: Of Tehama County’s $100+ million budget, only a small portion is truly ours to control and spend. Plan to come on Saturday and hear local sheriffs in their own words.