October 20, 2021
Location: Burger Moe’s, Saint Paul
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
–John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, Oct. 11, 1798
MINNEAPOLIS IS ENGAGED in intense constitutional activism. There are no less than three charter amendments on the November ballot, the “strong mayor” amendment proposed by the Charter Commission itself, the “Department of Public Safety” amendment proposed by voter petition, and the “rent stabilization” amendment proposed by the Minneapolis City Council. This is mixed, republican government in action, naturally accompanied by laments as to the “democratic deficit” embodied in the unelected Charter Commission that obstructs direct government by the voters. Mixed government, with its checks and balances, is our tradition.
Unfortunately, the self-styled democratic element is threatening to engulf the other two. The “public safety amendment” abolishes the police department and founds a “Department of Public Safety” which will be guided by principles of “public health”—which recent experience teaches is the banner of arbitrary and ruinous despotism, an excuse for wielding governmental power over every aspect of life. The proponents received $500,000 from the Open Society Foundation, a subversive organization. Let the voters decide? These are the voters that elected Keith Ellison to the U.S. Congress, followed by Ilhan Omar. Trust your elected officials? You mean the ones who abandoned the Third Precinct to rioters? The city is now incapable of home rule.
ON THE OTHER HAND, this may be just another swing of the pendulum such as we long ago committed ourselves to undergoing when we settled on mixed government after observing the extreme, self-destructive injustices of tyranny, oligarchy, and mob rule. The system is working. The bad guys will be exposed, eventually, and the good guys will work their benign influence. We will ride out the current storm.
The Chairman, a responsible adult, seeks to repress his childish pleasure in constitutional experimentation, and therefore has summoned a caucus of the Society to debate the following proposition:
RESOLVED: Defund Minneapolis.
The Debate will be held on Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at Burger Moe’s, 242 West 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55102.
The Chancellor and Chairman encourage people to arrive prior to 7 o'clock p.m. and to thank our host venue by spending money while partaking of food and drink. The debate will begin at half past seven.
There is no dress code, but gentlemen who wish to speak must wear a tie, and ladies are encouraged to uphold a similar sartorial standard. For gentlemen arriving sans tie yet wishing to discourse on the resolution, the Purveyor of Ties will have on hand several from his remarkable collection. Questions regarding debate caucus procedures or about the John Adams Society itself may be directed to the Chairman at (651) 398-9316 or the Secretary at (612) 703-6021.
http://www.johnadamssociety.org
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