What Would the Founders Say About the 2020 Election?
By: Philip Mella
The upcoming election presents Americans with two clearly distinct visions for the future. Indeed, President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden are perfect proxies that highlight diametrically opposed policies. Correctly understanding our history properly frames the competing agendas so we can make informed decisions.
Since the inception of our Constitution, citizens have debated the proper role and scope of the government. Because the Preamble of the Constitution defines “We, the people” as the source of government’s authority, it has been the responsibility of the American people to establish its legitimacy within the Constitution’s framework.
Americans have always had a healthy distrust of government, because history is replete with examples of its abuse and the collateral subjugation of people. But there is evidence that relative peace and economic security have lulled us into complacency, where we’ve effectively become indifferent to government’s growth, from its modest beginnings to the Leviathan that currently controls so much of our lives. Is the exchange of our freedoms for an ever-expansive government culturally and morally healthy, or is it a Faustian bargain?
Let’s begin with instruction from James Madison, the father of the Constitution. In Federalist 51, he provides the principal justification for government by stating, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” He argued for a government structure of checks and balances designed to provide countervailing influences of each branch against the other two, the “separation of powers” we’re all familiar with. “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” Madison wrote, and the degree of countermeasures was meticulously calculated based on the potential severity of abuse.
There is strong evidence that the Founders preferred limited government, but if the balance of power among the branches is skewed, government is vulnerable to unchecked growth — and abuse. To wit, the Founders would be shocked that their implicit trust in the Constitution has been progressively circumscribed by a bloated bureaucracy that rules by Federal Register. That has transitioned us from citizens to subjects, thereby rendering the quaint notion of government by consent of the people a functional fiction.
Combined with a federal phalanx of recently minted agencies, from the Department of Education to the Environmental Protection Agency, that have no constitutional foundation, the sovereignty of the States as enshrined in the 10th Amendment has been essentially nullified.
Because our public education system has failed to maintain a curriculum based on First Principles, we’ve become numb to the incremental encroachment of our hyperactive federal government. Therefore, what would have been summarily rejected as unwarranted abridgements on our freedoms decades ago is now blithely accepted.
Our Founders deliberately enshrined the Legislative Branch in Article I of the Constitution because they correctly understood that in a republic — which is not a democracy — laws and appropriations must originate with elected officials. However, in modern times, Congress has been unduly deferential to the Executive and Judicial Branches, which has led to laws and regulations effectively written by executive or judicial fiat.
For reasons best left to cultural anthropologists, over the past several decades, the left has willfully rejected the core principles of our Founding Fathers as expressed in our Constitution. More alarming is their ignorant reanimation of socialism, a deeply flawed system that has left millions in abject poverty and despair.
The left’s growing trust in big government, from the oxymoronic universal health care to the Green New Deal, as well as leftists’ willingness to abridge our First and Second Amendment rights, should profoundly shock the sensibilities of Americans who cherish liberty.
All our presidents have had personality quirks and moral failings, and President Trump certainly fits that mold. However, he has also upheld our core freedoms and been a tireless defender of our nation in ways no president, Democrat or Republican, has done in recent memory.
It’s become a serial cliché that every election cycle is deemed the most critical. At the risk of abusing that sentiment, it’s clear that the fragile liberties we’ve naïvely taken for granted are endangered and, depending upon the election’s outcome, may be extinguished. A vote for President Trump is our best hope of keeping the torch of liberty burning brightly, today, and for future generations.
••••
About the Author: Philip Mella writes on politics and history and has been published in The Wall Street Journal, American Thinker, and Townhall. He is former mayor pro tem of Woodland Park, Colorado and currently serves on the 4th Judicial Nominating Commission.
••••
The above article (Hunter Becomes the Hunted) was created and published by American Thinker and is republished here under “Fair Use” (see disclaimer below) with attribution to the articles author Philip Mella and americanthinker.com.
TLB recommends you visit American Thinker for more great articles and information.
••••
••••
Stay tuned to …
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Leave a Reply