Joseph Sobran: The Lesser Evil

Griffin Internet Syndicate ^ | November 24, 2001 | Joseph Sobran

[ouroboros]

The Lesser Evil

by Joseph Sobran

Once, before appearing on a TV talk show, I was told I must not advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government. I hadn’t actually been planning to foment revolution, but this warning gave me an idea: "May I advocate the violent restoration of the Constitution?" I got no answer.

Some people think I’m a "purist," or even a "fundamentalist," for harping on the Constitution. Actually, it’s just the opposite. I’m willing to settle for the Constitution as a tolerable compromise. Really principled people, such as Lysander Spooner, the late, great Murray Rothbard, and a number of my living friends, consider the Constitution itself tyrannical, endowing the Federal Government with far too much power. (Don’t tell the children, but so did Patrick Henry.)

These are the real purists, and I honor them. My only point is that even if they’re right, returning to the Constitution – to a government strictly limited to its few enumerated powers – would be a huge improvement over the kind of government we have now. At this point I’d gratefully settle for that. I don’t ask much.

All I ask, really, is that our rulers, alias elected representatives, do that which they swear before Almighty God, staking their immortal souls on the promise, that they will do: uphold said Constitution. I think it’s actually rather patriotic – and even charitable – of me to hope that our rulers will stop damning themselves. But this seems to make me some sort of utopian. Who ever heard of a politician going to heaven?

These gents (all right, there are a few ladies among them) think an oath of office is something to be taken as lightly as, say, a wedding vow. They probably felt a deeper sense of obligation when they took their college fraternity pledges. Only one member of Congress seems to read the Constitution and vote against proposed laws on grounds that they lack constitutional authorization: the Texas Republican Ron Paul. And he’s considered a bit of a crank even by his own party. Whenever I read that the House has approved something by a 434-to-1 vote, I check to see if the 1 is Ron Paul. It usually is.

Of course the government has long since decided that the Constitution must be interpreted with a certain latitude, which always means letting the government stretch its own powers as far as it pleases. This is the familiar idea that the Constitution is a "living document," which is to say, a dead letter. How can it be "living" if it’s mere putty in the hands of the powerful? Really living things resist manipulation.

The Constitution is supposed to control the government, not vice versa. James Madison noted that the unwritten British Constitution could be changed at any time by a simple act of Parliament. Our Constitution, he said, would be better because it was an act of the people – remember "We the People"? – and would be "unalterable by the government." Any amendment would require very broad popular support.

But today We the People wait for the government – often meaning five members of the U.S. Supreme Court – to decide what the Constitution is going to mean. After all, they’re the experts. We the People are only ... people.

And We the People don’t protest, don’t even notice any incongruity, when we’re assured that this rank elitism is "democracy" and "self-government." We nod solemnly when we should be issuing a hearty horselaugh.

The current war is a good example. An emergency results from the government’s abuse of its powers, so the government claims new powers in order to cope with the emergency. And if you don’t support these claims, you’re unpatriotic; if you think the government’s foreign policy helped create this mess, you’re "blaming America first."

In other words, we are expected to equate an unconstitutional government with the Constitution! Logic, anyone? Tyranny doesn’t have to mean a grumpy dictator with a funny mustache; it can be exercised by pleasant guys who shave and smile. Its essence is lawless government – government that makes countless laws because it recognizes no law above itself.

November 24, 2001

Joe Sobran is a nationally syndicated columnist. He also writes "Washington Watch" for The Wanderer, a weekly Catholic newspaper, and edits SOBRAN'S, a monthly newsletter of his essays and columns.

He invites you to try his new collection of aphorisms, "Anything Called a 'Program' Is Unconstitutional: Confessions of a Reactionary Utopian." You can get a free copy by subscribing or renewing your subscription to Sobran's. Just call 800-513-5053, or see his website, www.sobran.com. (He's still available for speaking engagements too.)

Copyright (c) 2001 by Griffin Internet Syndicate. All rights reserved.

Joseph Sobran Archives

[christine]

This is what he should be advocating because our constitutional republic has already been overthrown

so true. and so few people realize it. so sad....

[christine]

i bookmarked your website to look at later. it looks very interesting. :)

[SusanUSA]

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks -- no form of government can render us secure. To suppose liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.
-- James Madison, Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 20, 1788

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
-- James Madison in The Federalist

[SusanUSA]

This is the familiar idea that the Constitution is a "living document," which is to say, a dead letter. How can it be "living" if it’s mere putty in the hands of the powerful? Really living things resist manipulation.

"The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
-- Thomas Jefferson

I think it is "we the people" who must realize that the Constitution is and will remain dead unless WE give it renewed life. It will only become a "living document" again if WE give it life.

[SusanUSA]

The Constitution that the Framers actually wrote provided the individual almost no protection from tyranny by the States.

Maybe they realized there was built in protection in the fact that a state that is tyrannical risks losing their population, i.e. source of income, due to the people abandoning that state for less tyrannical ones?

[SusanUSA]

And after your warning, too....tsk, tsk. ;)

I'm on ouro's bump list anyway, but thanks.

[Torie]

Under extreme duress in the privacy of an underground torture chamber, while I was on the rack, I might confess that I agree with you sentiment expressed.

[glf]

I have read "Radical Son". It will change your mind.

[glf]

What are you smoking ?? I WANT SOME !!!!

[Twodees]

I'm smoking a handmade Connecticut cigar. You'll have to get your own.

[Harrison Bergeron]

"Horowitz gives himself away in subtle ways. One of those is his insistence that the US is a democracy. Another is his Lincoln worhip.

My suspicions aren't quite as educated. I've always thought that his columns come off more like caricatures of conservatism than the real thing. Funny thing... I always thought the same thing about Ann Coulter's writing. Both she and Horowitz tend to limit themselves to left wing venues like Bill Maher's ridiculously named "politically Incorrect" and the Ivy League lecture circuit. It has a bad smell to it.

[Twodees]

That's a good observation. Both those kids seem to feel more at home being interviewed by liberals. The description of his writing as a sort of caricature of conservative writing is excellent. It's sort of a self concious parody of a conservative writer.

[VoodooEconomist]

BUMP to two true conservatives - Joseph Sobran and Congressman Ron Paul - men who oppose Big Government under all circumstances (not selectively, like many FReepers are wont to do).

[SEA]

Just read this. Thanks for posting this 99% great Sobran article, and here's to the violent restoration of the U.S. Constitution.