Witnessing Fear of Government

“When the government fears the people, there is freedom.  When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”  –Thomas Jefferson
 
One of my jobs as a District Captain for COS is to call people who signed the COS petition and indicated they would volunteer to help.
 
Jefferson’s admonition rang loud and clear as I spoke to a potential volunteer on the telephone yesterday. I asked if she had indicated on her petition that she would be a COS volunteer. She said yes, then hesitated and said she wasn’t sure she could volunteer because she was afraid of what the government would do to her or her family. 
 
Imagine that. 
 
Just. Imagine. That.
 
It broke my heart to hear. After an hour on the phone, she said she would review the volunteer positions and choose one. I hope she does, but I’m not so sure she will. 
 
Imagine a government for the people, BY THE PEOPLE, sending signals, however vague or implicit, that you might pay a price for exercising your inalienable right to speak and take a position on a subject…ANY subject.
 
I think my volunteer was perhaps a bit more sensitive and fearful than many, but her fears are not baseless. The Leviathan in DC making strides towards the tyranny Jefferson wrote about. People worry about what may happen if they resist the current tyranny we are experiencing.
 
A Convention of States with the charge of limiting federal spending, jurisdiction, and term limits will flip the fear around to where it belongs, where the federal government fears its master: THE PEOPLE.