Miller: Restoring the American dream takes more than electing a president

The “in” thing this month would be to talk about the continuing battle in the GOP and the possibility of a contested convention. But let’s cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now, it’s more media hype designed to sell newspapers and boost television ratings. Plus, it has the deliberate effect of shielding the mess in the Democratic Party from view. We could spend hours speculating on the corruption among Democrats, particularly as it relates to how they will handle Hillary Clinton’s never-ending legal problems, but that’s a conversation for another day.

There’s a bigger movement at stake here and it encompasses both political parties and people who belong to neither. Americans on all sides are fed up with being pushed around by elite establishments that are slowly stealing the American dream right out from under our noses. Millions of average Joes out there are sick of being told what to do and to “shut up and pay” for decisions in which they have little to no part. Accountability and transparency? Forget about it!

It’s that anger that’s driving both the Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders forces just as it was six years ago when the Tea Party first got started. Since then, things have only gotten worse. But to reclaim our birthright as Americans will take more than electing Trump, Ted Cruz or Sanders as president. The revolution, if you want to call it that, has to be at all levels of government, right down to the neighborhood level. Change at the top will mean little if there is no network of support beneath.

It’s hard to appreciate it but progress at the federal level has been made, though much more needs to be done. In South Carolina, we elected Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate, and Congressman Mark Sanford is too much a social pariah to be part of the establishment cabal. But the process of replacing other establishment dinosaurs needs to be accelerated.

At the state level, the test case of the gas tax illustrates the depth of the problem. For years, creeping taxes and fees (look at the bill for your auto registration renewal) have been raised to support Palmetto State roads. But like most government programs, they spend and spend yet the problem remains. Where has the money gone? Instead of examining accountability for past spending, all they want is more money. Some local Republican representatives wavered initially but not Sen. Tom Davis or Rep. Shannon Erickson, both of Beaufort. They are to be commended while those who waver should be warned.

The same nexus of tax, spend and corruption can exist also at the county level and even the community level. I live in Sun City, where a distant elite makes all the decisions and the rest of us are told to obey. “Compliance with our rules” is the message I received on my answering machine from the gnomes who operate behind the scenes. My neighborhood representative informs me that it’s not his job to represent me but to inform me of the rules. Meanwhile, a high ranking security guard told me “you have no rights.” That must be news to the veterans who fought and bled for our freedom.

Restoring our rights at every level of government will be the hardest thing many of us have done, yet not accepting the challenge is unthinkable. At Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln defined our cause: “A new birth of freedom — that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” It’s time to stop taking the abuse from the establishment and reassert our American birthright. Get busy!

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 4:08 PM with the headline "Miller: Restoring the American dream takes more than electing a president."