Here is the text — and if you wish to watch the video, simply click on the thumbnail image above that links directly to Youtube.
Friends, Americans, and countrymen, lend me your ears!
Ben Franklin here. I’d like to share with you a concern I have over the future of this country. A long time ago, a number of people in the original 13 colonies became very angry with how they were being governed. King George the Third and the members of Parliament, in far-off England, seemed to think that the colonies existed for only one thing... to make money for the business owners, and to give more and more power to the aristocratic class, the leaders of the British Empire.
Well, as the saying goes, “absolute power corrupts, absolutely.” Which meant that the more wealth and power that the English lords obtained, the worse they became at governing. They didn’t care at all about the problems and needs of ordinary citizens. They were so self-centered that the only thing that mattered to them was lining their own pockets, living in the lap of luxury, and preserving their own privileges and power. As a result, many of us living in the American colonies, far, far away on the other side of the ocean, began losing more of our ability to govern ourselves.
You see, every time we turned around, England was taking away more of our rights, levying taxes on us without even consulting us, and generally treating us like second-class citizens and worse. And the more we protested against this treatment, the harder they tightened the screws and made things even more intolerable by coming up with new taxes or royal decrees that infringed on our natural rights as Englishmen. Like being forced to house and feed their army troops in our own homes, for example.
Today, we could compare this heavy-handed government action to some of the abuses of power by our own leaders. Imagine, for example, if you were required to take into your home the members of a police force who had already demonstrated the kind of brutality that was causing problems for ordinary citizens. That’s what it felt like to us colonials who were told we had to provide lodging for the already hated British soldiers.
Thankfully, that hasn’t happened yet. But if this current authoritarian government keeps going the way it has, I wouldn’t be surprised if they try some equally outrageous stunts in order to put down our protests with an unwarranted show of force.
What’s at stake here, you may wonder? Well, we’ve already seen examples, on live TV, of this government using military troops, complete with tear gas and rubber bullets, to stop legitimate, peaceful demonstrations in public places. We’ve also learned how government money is being diverted to already wealthy individuals and corporations, making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
But, worst of all, we are hearing how this government is planning to tamper with the upcoming election by reducing the number of polling places, making it harder for people to vote; by unlawfully removing citizens’ names from voter registration lists, thus taking away their legal right to vote; by collaborating with foreign countries to spread false rumors about candidates; and, by criticizing or even taking away the ability to vote by mail or absentee ballot.
All of these despicable moves, my friends, could put the very next election in serious jeopardy, and make it impossible to remove this corrupt administration from office, before they do any more damage to our democracy.
So take it from an old Founding Father, my friends... it’s not too late for us to take control of this situation and reverse course before we get into even deeper waters. The key to this is using the powers that we do have.... like our freedom of speech, and the ability to peacefully protest... and, most importantly, the power to vote. As long as we have our free elections, we can vote these scoundrels out of office, the sooner the better!
Your humble servant,
B.Franklin