Forgetting Our Constitution Will End Our Republic
Constitution Day falls on Sept. 17 annually.
This year, 2024, it may be our most important holiday to revisit.
All our pressing national problems today are a result of corruption and departure from governance and law enforcement consistent with our Constitution.
Our nation is increasingly threatened more than at any time since the Civil War.
The War of Independence lasted five long years from 1776 to 1781, with the undertrained, underfunded, and underequipped Continental Army losing more battles than they won.
That the disadvantaged American militia could defeat Great Britain — then the most formidable military power in the world, was miraculous.
The second miracle in forming the United States was the drafting of the Constitution six years after the Revolutionary War.
By contemporary standards, it's inconceivable how delegates from 13 incredibly disparate states could muster the forbearance and magnanimity to agree on a new Constitution.
Ben Franklin, an elder delegate, called his fellow Constitutional Convention delegates to prayer at an early intractable impasse.
This act brought about a lasting spirit of reconciliation, one which prevailed through the next three months of deliberations in the blistering heat of summer. All this arduous effort brought the delegates’ almost unanimous vote of agreement on Sept. 17, 1887.
As good as that Constitution was, it had to be ratified by the states to become the law of the land. Several states withheld support out of fear the document did not protect citizens and states from the inevitable overreach and corruption of a federal government.
The influential and large hold-out states — Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts — finally agreed to ratify the document on the condition that 10 Amendments called the Bill of Rights would be incorporated into its final form.
This Bill of Rights would define and protect both the people’s natural and unalienable rights and protect states’ rights against abuse from the federal government.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were revolutionary political doctrines because they clearly delineated citizens’ rights and established that these rights came from God, not the state.
These rights being then sovereign and unalienable put the people in charge and government’s role subordinate!
The Constitution limits government abuse by creating checks and balances of power between three separate branches of government — the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Another mechanism of "check" in the Constitution was also to delineate power to be exercised between the federal and state governing authorities.
Collectively all of the above reflects sheer genius.
Frequent elections established by the Constitution also provide another significant limiting mechanism to battle incompetence and corruption.
Our most sacred responsibility of citizenship established by the Constitution was and is the responsibility of people to be informed, vote, and decide who governs.
This combination of limiting governmental power and maximizing peoples’ rights makes the U.S. Constitution unique — the longest-running constitution in human history.
Also, let's not forget, power-hungry corrupt persons can fundamentally undermine and circumvent any constitution, with resultant, disastrous consequences.
We are witness to political corruption that has undermined the Constitution.
Our very survival as a republic is now threatened more than ever.
- Uncontrolled federal government spending—now adding a trillion dollars to our national debt every ninety days, causing high inflation, and risking a financial collapse.
- Record numbers of undocumented, illegal immigrants, foreign government agents, criminals, terrorists, and armed gangs being allowed to enter the United States --- some becoming sleeper cells and others expropriating property and overrunning communities.
- Compromise of law enforcement by defunding and politicizing law enforcement.
- The loss of energy independence.
- The censorship and deplatforming of independent voices in the legacy and social media, and the increased government control of media narratives.
- The political weaponization of law enforcement at the local, state, and national levels against people expressing their First Amendment rights to protest and challenge government policy and actions.
How can we be blind to these policies?
Unchecked and unhindered, they will destroy us.
The Constitution makes it clear all are equal before the law.
Every elected federal government office holder, judicial appointee, and executive branch cabinet secretary is required to pledge an oath before assuming office, to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Yet today, it's obvious that application and compliance with the law is blatantly unequal — relegating the U.S. status to little more than a banana republic. Betrayal of the oath of office has become widespread and is bipartisan.
In a spiritually enlightened Constitutional America, government would be a good steward of taxpayer resources and avoid debt burdens on future generations.
Unelected government agencies would all be downsized and be stripped of their ability to make regulatory law, which is the sole responsibility of the legislature.
Agencies that could not be reformed and deliver for the American people — like the Department of Education, Homeland Security, FBI, and CIA — would be entirely restructured and refocused. The military would be recast into armed services with unmatched excellence and training to fight — and win — wars.
In a Constitutional America, there would be absolute protection of the people’s rights, and there would be equal justice under the law. The First Amendment would be considered sacred and honored, which would result in a vibrant competition of ideas, creating a public square in which false political narratives and propaganda would be exposed and unable to survive.
The Constitution was completed and signed off by the Constitutional Convention delegates on Sept. 17, 1787.
We remain a republic, yes - but only if we have the courage to keep it.
Do we? Can we?
Scott S. Powell, a member of the Committee on the Present Danger: China and senior fellow at Discovery Institute, is the author of "Rediscovering America," a new release in the history genre. You may reach him at scottp@discovery.org. Read Scott S. Powell's Reports — More Here.