Hawaii ranked dead last in the nation, at 43 percent voter turnout, in the last primary election. What’s the reason? Do voters here have a sense of hopelessness because of the powerful organized efficiency wielded by the lockstep civil servants and Marxist-based Democrat machine?
A machine that has systematically installed its cronies in state and county government since statehood. To many of whom are either ignorant of or uninterested in protecting our freedom, constitutional rights and pocket book. Many seem more dedicated to undermining the will of the voters and suppressing citizen freedom. That describes tyranny!
In 1998, voters in the state established in our Constitution that marriage is between a man and a woman, that law was upheld by the State Supreme Court in 1999.
In 2013, the political winds shifted and the machine in Honolulu went directly against the established will of the people and the court by redefining marriage. No matter what you think about the issue, that blatant overreach of power should scare you. An elite government hierarchy imposed its will against the legally expressed will of the people.
For years the political elite in the Hawaii Police Department and county administration have systemically refused 2nd Amendment constitutional gun rights to its citizens. In 2012, George Young Jr, a veteran with Hawaiian ancestry, filed a lawsuit against the county and the police chief over the violation of these rights. The 9th District Court ruled in favor of Young and the people. Despite that, the Police Department and Mayor’s Office decided they know better the freedoms we should have and actually used our tax dollars to further the fight against us in an effort to strip away our rights so they could maintain control.
In my opinion, extreme gun control was originally imposed unlawfully to limit citizens, including Native Hawaiians, from access to guns because of the dubious history citizens suffered under the unjust political hierarchy of the past. That small group again pursued extreme and unlawful measures to maintain control.
I have faith that law-abiding, vetted and trained citizens who wish to avail themselves of the 2nd Amendment can exercise that right safely and sensibly. Otherwise only criminals will have guns and we are made unfairly vulnerable. This particularly, considering the obvious long response time to get law enforcement help to our more rural areas.
Very recently the extreme liberals of the state Senate voted against the rule of law again in favor of making Hawaii a sanctuary state. Fortunately, the House of Representative wouldn’t allow it. But this was a close call and way off base. Again, an example of the self-defined upper-class political elites not having our best interest at heart!
No matter your political views, consider Hawaii history. It’s not the Constitution that fails the people — it’s the greedy, power-hungry elites that do. The early Hawaii Constitution didn’t fail the people of Hawaii, greedy big business and others with too much political power did. Fortunately for us, their treacherous, tyrannical behavior, while very wrong, did eventually lead us to statehood and potentially a sound, time-tested Constitution, again, potentially giving access to liberty and justice for all.
However, when the state was formed, the powerful couldn’t control themselves once again, and misdirected much control of the governing body into the hands of a few in Honolulu. One very important aspect was to omit elected county sheriffs from the system. The county sheriff being an important position sworn to serve and protect the voters from overreach by state or federal government. Instead the powerful kept as much control as possible in Honolulu, where the office of sheriff now resides as a politically appointed position. This and many other controls over county resources and issues are still held there with a very tight grip.
Here on Hawaii Island we need a citizen-elected sheriff to serve and protect the citizens. We must all call urgently for the county to establish such an amendment for a vote on the next ballet.
Lest you think our politically appointed chief of police is a good alternative to an elected sheriff, think again.
Considering the recent performance of the department under the current chief, I can’t help but recall the multiple corruption allegations that have arisen within the department as well as the high number of citizens shot by officers in the last two years. The question looms, is this leader properly aligned with the ability and the rule of law to do the job that our dedicated police officers and vulnerable citizenry deserve?
One final question. When the very concerning issues of police corruption were raised last year, why did the prosecuting attorney recuse himself from the investigation and defer the issue to Honolulu?
Greg Gerard is a resident of Captain Cook.
