A Republic, Not a Democracy
We hear a lot about democracy these days. But our founders didn't give us a democracy. They gave us a republic. And those are not the same thing.
“A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on dinner. A republic is a system that protects the lamb.”
That's what our Constitution does. And that's what Sacramento has forgotten.
Because right now in District 79, the lambs are losing. The family in Spring Valley that can't afford rent because Sacramento decided what their neighborhood should look like without asking them. The small business owner in El Cajon being regulated into the ground by people who have never signed the front of a paycheck. The mom in La Mesa who doesn't feel safe walking her kids to school. The parents in Lemon Grove being told they have no say in what their children are taught.
These are the lambs. And the wolves aren't just in Sacramento. The wolves are anyone who made this fight about their position instead of your problems. Anyone who turned public service into a career of self-preservation. Anyone who decided that holding a seat matters more than serving the people who sit behind it.
And the easiest road, the road every losing leader takes, is to tell you that division is just how it is. Pick a side. Dig in. Fight. Call it progress. That's not strength. That's surrender. The descent into combative arguments is the lazy refuge of people who have given up on solving anything.
I'm not here to fight for a position. I'm here to fight for the lamb. For every family in this district that has been told their voice doesn't matter because the wolves already voted.
A republic doesn't accept that. I don't accept that. And neither should you.
Thank you.