Posted on 11/21/2008 7:45:16 AM PST by history_48
by Gina L. Diorio
At the close of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, an eager colonist purportedly asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government the delegates had created. In Franklinesque style, the great statesman responded “A republic, if you can keep it."
Well it seems we did keep it, but only for a time. And 232 years after our dearly-won independence, I would say that America has unofficially adopted her third form of government since the days of Constitutional yore. Now on paper, of course, our system boasts a stability that is the envy of the modern world, but, as we have come to see all too well, paper…or rather the words on the paper…apparently mean whatever we’d like them to mean at any given time.
The first change from good old republicanism (small ‘r’, please, lest we offend) occurred when “democracy” became all the rave. Never mind that our founding fathers strongly opposed pure democracy on the basis that it always degenerates into tyranny. Never mind that democracy, by definition, negates any proposition of objective law as the foundation of an orderly society. Never mind even that democracy always discriminates against those in the minority. Somehow, we Americans got it into our collective brain that the will of the people must ALWAYS prevail (or, at least except when that will is politically incorrect – case in point: the current brouhaha over the people’s will in California’s Proposition 8); thus, America evolved from the Republic bestowed on us by our forefathers (ahem, forepersons) into a ‘democracy’ in which the whim—I mean will—of the people rules … sometimes.
From recent events, however, it appears that Ben and George and John and James weren’t all too off in their fear of democracy degenerating into tyranny. “Now wait,” you might be thinking, “there’s no tyranny in the United States.” And you’d probably right if you’re defining tyranny in its traditional forms: dictatorships, oligarchies, etc. But as history has proven time and time again, Americans have never been traditional. So we created our own brand of tyranny: judicial. (The disappointing fact is, however, that we only THINK we’ve created something grand and new. But just ask those folks who lived under England’s Star Chamber and you’ll find out that our great invention has been tried before.)
The problem with judicial tyranny (aside from the obvious, of course) is that not only does it reject the stability of the constitutional republicanism armed with which our country survived its first 150 or so years, but it also treads underfoot even the whimsical—and often vacillating—will of the majority that we’ve come to prize, for good or ill.
Need some proof of this? Just look again to same-sex marriages: the majority (a.k.a. “democracy”) opposes state sanction of same-sex marriages and has decidedly expressed as much in states across the country through established legal – i.e. republican (small ‘r’ again) methods. Yet, in more than one instance, courts (a.k.a. “judicial tyrants”) have “interpreted” such opposition to be unconstitutional. Indeed, all eyes are now on the California Supreme Court to see if it, too, will play the tyrant.
Since we traded our republic for a democracy, and since this democracy has led to tyranny, what’s next? Well the ‘good’ news, if it can be considered such (which it can't), is that we’re still in the early stages of our new rule, so we just might have the luxury of a few more years of tyranny “light” before it gets any worse.
But maybe if present and future prospects don’t sound too appealing – as well they should not – we should all consider taking a vested interest in our government and divesting the tyrants of their power.
Oh, and offering Ben a sincere apology wouldn’t hurt, either.
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Gina L. Diorio is a full-time freelance writer. Please visit her website at www.LibertyWritingSolutions.com.
Great article! Thanks for posting. Gina Diorio is spot on in her analysis...and she’s right about us being in the early stages of this tyranny but if we fail to stop it soon it will be too late.
Below is from George Washington’s Farewell Address!
Warns against the party system.
“It serves to distract the Public Councils,
and enfeeble the Public Administration....
agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies
and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one....
against another....
it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption...
thus the policy and the will of one country are
subjected to the policy and will of another.”
Stresses the importance of religion and morality.
“Where is the security for property, for reputation,
for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert
the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation
in Courts of Justice?”
On stable public credit.
“...cherish public credit.
One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly
as possible...
avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt....
it is essential that you...bear in mind, that towards
the payments of debts there must be Revenue,
that to have Revenue there must be taxes;
that no taxes can be devised, which are not...
inconvenient and unpleasant...”
Warns against permanent foreign alliances.
“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any portion of the foreign world...”
The University of Dayton is currently offering a course named :Does the US need to rewrite the Constitution?
I think I would be thrown out of that class quickly!
Mr. Bush addressed the G8 just the other day, proclaiming ‘interdependence’ for the United States. Just like his predecessor Clinton did.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams
I think immorality, especially greed, envy, and dishonesty, is the crux of our problem. Unless this is remedied we will never recover. We are experiencing anarchy, often enabled/encouraged by government (Judicial Anarchy having point). Anarchy never lasts long, if it is allowed to progress the next step will be tyranny. This will be a sad tribute to our ancestors (mine carved farms out of wilderness in 1784) who gave us this trust. God help us if we lose it.
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