There is a growing awareness among the Left and Right about the unique role that law enforcement plays in the fight between tyranny and liberty. The Right must become more fully engaged in ensuring the vital role of sheriff is held by honorable patriots who understand the Constitution and are willing to uphold it.
Writing constitutional legislation and preventing the passage of unconstitutional laws is an important activity for patriot activists.
But there are two sides to public policy. Having laws on the books is one thing. Enforcing those laws is another. You can have the finest laws, but if no one is willing to enforce them, what difference does it make?
After all, is this not the situation in which we find ourselves now on the national stage? The U.S. Constitution established a world-class system designed to preserve our freedoms and allow for the prosperity of our people. The problem is that the U.S. government is not following the Constitution. Even when Congress is deadlocked and, thankfully, thereby prevented from passing more tyrannical laws, the executive branch continues to trample on the Constitution.
Conversely, unconstitutional legislation can be thwarted if those in charge of enforcing the law have the integrity and courage to say “no.”
This is where constitutional sheriffs step into the picture.
If a local or state government came out with, for instance, gun confiscations and oppressive hate-speech laws, a constitutional sheriff can politely say to the lawmakers, “Pass whatever law you wish. I won’t conduct a single arrest on its behalf. We are abiding by the Constitution.”
The January 6 arrests have shown the crucial role local law enforcement can play for or against the Deep State’s plans. Although the J6 prisoners have been charged with federal crimes, in many cases they have been arrested either by local sheriff’s offices and police departments or by federal authorities working in coordination with local authorities.
Also, many of the J6 prisoners were not even sent to Washington, D.C., but have been kept in correctional facilities within their own states.
If the sheriffs in the various states had put their foot down and refused to cooperate with the politically motivated witch hunt, many of patriots whose only crime was to trespass in the nation’s Capitol would not have had their lives destroyed.
The Deep State, of course, sees the threat that constitutional sheriffs pose to their agenda, which is why they want the ability to bypass them with a national police force.
This is why they have the FBI. It’s why they’re setting up Capitol Police field offices across the country. It’s why they’re arming every federal agency from the IRS to the Post Office.
But even in the face of these federal agents, local authorities serve as a powerful barrier if the sheriff in question is a patriot. While many conservative Americans talk about standing up to tyrannical authorities if they were to come round them up, the reality is that most people wouldn’t. There is a social aversion to armed resistance among many Americans, especially when one has no support from the legal establishment.
But a constitutional sheriff, an elected government officer, can provide legitimacy to resistance against tyrannical overreach. He can deploy deputies to arrest federal authorities who attempt to arrest citizens unlawfully. He can fill the much-needed leadership vacuum that would inherently exist in a confrontation between the people and the federal government, and he can counter the feds’ numbers by deputizing citizens.
The Left, perceiving the power of local law enforcement, wants to neutralize it by taking it over. In 2021, progressive activist Susan Hutson, who had no law-enforcement experience, won a decisive victory against longtime Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman in Louisiana.
The Right must emulate the Left’s playbook in the sense of making sheriff’s races more political. Now, many might have a negative reaction to that sentence, as we have been conditioned to believe that making something “political” is bad, equating it to being partisan and engaging in dirty politics.
But being “political” is simply an acknowledgement of reality: Public offices can be used for good or evil; everyone has a partisan leaning or agenda (whether they admit it or not) and will use their office to further that agenda — so it’s best to elect someone who shares your convictions.
The Right must put greater effort into not merely electing individuals who have solid law-enforcement experience (though that is important as well), but truly grill candidates on constitutional issues. So often, sheriff’s offices avoid answering questions about political issues, making the excuse that it is not their jurisdiction. But it is — because sheriffs are the ones who will be tasked with enforcing unconstitutional laws if they are passed.
Every candidate for sheriff must be thoroughly vetted to determine whether he will be a servant of the establishment or a fighter for liberty. We live in an era in which the battle lines are being drawn, and every man must choose a side.
