This thought-provoking post from Oxford County’s own Albertus Koekoek serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of local governance. He urges us to recognize how outsourcing our responsibilities has led to a loss of autonomy and community strength. As you read his compelling insights shared on Facebook, consider how you can contribute to revitalizing local leadership and taking charge of the future of your community.
It’s time to step up and reclaim our power!
The following text is written by Albertus Koekoek. See his original post on Facebook here.
Local townships once solved their own problems.
They knew their land, their people, their rhythm. They had pride and responsibility.
Then they got soft.
Every time something felt too heavy, they pushed it up the chain.
“That’s not our job.”
“Let the province handle it.”
“Let Ottawa decide.”
And Ottawa did.
Now the same rules govern a fishing village in Newfoundland and a skyscraper in Toronto.
That didn’t happen by force.
It happened because local man stopped leading.
Because we stopped showing up and decided our responsibility was someone else’s problem.
We outsourced the very duties that once gave our lives meaning and now we wonder why the World Economic Forum creates our rules?
Freedom doesn’t die in a single act of tyranny. It erodes every time someone says, “I don’t want to deal with it.”
And we’ve been doing that for decades!
When a township hands off its power, a province grows stronger.
When provinces defer upward, the federal machine expands.
And when nations follow that same instinct, you end up with a global order.
If you refuse to bear the responsibility, someone will carry it for you and you’ll answer to them forever. And that’s exactly what we did!
You can’t fix this from above.
You fix it from the soil beneath your feet.
By rebuilding the will of your community.
By stepping up where others stepped out.
By owning what’s yours and never handing it off again.
Every time you say “It’s not my responsibility”, you surrender a part of your freedom to whatever institution you push the job on to.
Every time a township says, “That’s not our jurisdiction,” the world slides one inch closer to total control.
Responsibility is the price of freedom and we refused to pay it.
Now the monster has arrived by our own invitation.
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