Elections Have Consequences (Part 4)

Why We Vote (or, Elections have Consequences)

While no one is given credit for the quote, “There are four boxes of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and cartridge. Use in that order” we do know with whom it originated. South Carolina Governor Stephen Decatur Miller actually used the phrase “cartouche box” (heavy paper cartridge which contained black powder and the projectile, designed to be opened with your teeth) because this quote goes back to 1830, 16 years before the metallic cartridge would be patented. Governor Miller also noted the first boxes were Constitutional, the final was revolutionary.

Soap box: freedom of speech is guaranteed under the 1st Amendment, as is the freedom to peaceably assemble (those of us who exercise our 2nd Amendment rights do peaceably assemble from time to time.) Also under soap box/1st Amendment rights is petition the government for a redress of grievances. When we send letters and emails/make phone calls to our elected officials? We are on our soap box.

Ballot box: The 15th and 19th Amendments guarantee the right to vote to all citizens. I’ve heard many (including President Trump) speak of the low voter turnout among gun owners. I did some research, and ran the numbers.

To be a registered voter, you must be an adult. Based on the estimated adult population and the number of registered voters in the Great State of Indiana, nearly 93% of adult Hoosiers are registered to vote. According to the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, the 2020 general election saw a 64.6% voter turnout. In 2016, it was 58.1%.

A recent NBC News survey showed the percentage of gun owners in this country at 55% of the population. I think Indiana will be a bit higher, so I used 61% for my estimate.

When you do the math on the number of gun owners not registered to vote, added to the number of gun owners who are registered, but didn’t vote… there were 1,262,515 Hoosier gun owners who didn’t vote in 2020.

Jury box: our Bill of Rights gives We the People significant protections from an abusive government. The 5th Amendment gives us the right to due process, while protecting us from involuntary self-incrimination and double jeopardy. The 6th Amendment guarantees a speedy trial, a jury of our peers, the right to be informed of the nature of the accusation, and the right to legal counsel.

The Jury Box also gave us DC v. Heller (2008) which affirmed the 2nd Amendment is an individual right. McDonald v. Chicago (2010) which held that States must abide by the US Constitution in regards to 2nd Amendment rights. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022) where Justice Clarence Thomas so eloquently stated that the 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right, as well as the “text, history, and tradition” standard. National Rifle Association v. Vullo (2024) which in a unanimous decision ruled that States can’t violate 1st Amendment rights. Loper-Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) ended 40 years of bad precedent (Chevron deference) and reined-in out-of-control federal agencies.

As South Carolina Governor Stephan Decatur Miller put it all those years ago, those are the Constitutional boxes of liberty. Governor Miller used the term “belligerent principle” when referring to the fourth, the revolutionary box.

The cartridge box (or cartouche box as Governor Miller stated in 1830, since the metallic cartridge had yet to be invented) is indeed a revolutionary box. Our Founders chose the 4th box on 19 April 1775. 16 years later when the Bill of Rights was ratified much of what we call the first three boxes of liberty would become part of the US Constitution.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. Our founders fought and won a war against the most powerful military on Earth. I like to think our founders chose the 4th box of liberty, so we could rely on the first three. I also think the founders realized that without an armed population, the first three boxes of liberty would become irrelevant.

We have an election coming very soon. We all must all use the soap box as well as the ballot box, because elections have consequences.

Kelly Myers, ISRPA Government Affairs Co-Director