The Law is alive and well. It is written on people’s hearts, and can be known by anyone that searches with truth as their guide. But, there is and always has been lawlessness, the United States this last week has finally abandoned the Law. We have managed the transition from champion of the Law to sitting on the back bench; from the exceptional to run of the mill, to strongest man takes all, to a historically normal country.
Let us look at the main protections we had employed to ensure that we were a nation ruled by law rather than by men:
We went to church. We actively searched for the truth, encouraged one another in that quest. We acknowledged our Creator and made our laws conform to our understanding of the natural law. Freedom for all, love for one another, equal justice under the law, all seemed paramount.
We understood that only a moral people would be able to self-govern, a proper education was deemed not only important, but necessary in a qualified electorate.
Rule of Law, rather than tyranny, whatever the brand, was the objective. The people themselves having the final say as to whether proposed rules were in keeping with the natural, given law or not.
We separated governmental powers; groups that drafted the laws, from the enforcers, and from the adjudicators; in other words, the legislature from the executive from the judicial.
Finally, we wrote laws to ensure that the power would remain with the people. By law, Americans could say whatever they wanted, go wherever they wanted, meet with anyone they wanted, and carry weapons as each deemed necessary. Just as any sovereign would do, only this time all were to share in the dignity.
What happened?
For a variety of reasons, most of us no longer attend church. There have been scandals and we have thrown out the message with the messenger. We have allowed our economy to spiral to the point where it seems we have no time for a day of rest. And we listen to those promoting their brand of tyranny, that we do not need God, that we can build a utopia, as if gods ourselves.
Our schools, K through graduate level, are heavily influenced by so-called progressives and they work to exclude any opposing viewpoints. Progressives, or more properly, Statists actively promote a state enforced nirvana over voluntarily cooperating free people. A competent liberal education is becoming ever rarer. When American history is taught, it is shown in a poor light; man’s yearning to live free is rarely discussed. One who appreciates freedom has to look beyond our classrooms for classic Greek, critical thinking, even Cincinnatus cannot be found there.
Rule of Law, where all appear before the law on an equal standing, while never fully achieved, was always the goal for the vast majority of Americans. In recent years, following election defeats, the Statists have turned their efforts to encouraging the judiciary to simply write law, and they have met with considerable success. Laws have been promulgated that are contrary to Natural Law and that are beyond reasonable constraints on individual freedom. Respect for law has diminished as the moral foundations have been undermined. Law is seen increasingly as capricious, as a tool of the well connected, of powerful groups, something to use against political foes.
The separation of powers has been completely ignored. The Executive branch, charged with executing the law, has become increasingly selective about which laws to enforce and against which group. They have developed secret courts, warrantless searches, seize property without due process. They have switched the burden of proof of wrongdoing from the government to a burden of proof of innocence from the citizen. Unelected bureaucrats write page after page of regulation that have the same effect as law, signing statements have become the norm, and when called to testify before oversight committees, they mislead, and falsify or destroy documentation with impunity.
The Legislature has ceded the power of the purse through inaction; members talk of fiscal responsibility, yet rarely does the spending authorized match the rhetoric. Any plan to balance the budget goes out enough years to ensure that their next election will have come and gone. They pass laws with thousands of pages and then add the caveat “or as the Secretary shall determine”. In recent treaty legislation they have lowered the necessary consent with the President threshold from 2/3 to 1/3 of the Senate.
And this last week, the court has made a mockery of the law. For the second time on the healthcare law, the Chief Justice has fixed the legislation, changed the legislation. The Chief Justice did not bother to send it back to Congress, he simply wrote it as he thought it should be. Maybe we should recall our representatives and make him king officially. As to limited power of the federal government; the first time he ruled on the healthcare law, he indicated that as long as the law involved could be called a tax, the federal government could do anything it wanted.
Regarding the court inserting itself into marriage, I see comments about agreement or not concerning the court’s dictate. Where is the outrage from both sides as to how the ruling was justified? A new right was just found in the Constitution! It must have been in small print. Me thinks a penumbra of politics is emanating from the Supreme Court.
However; the Law is still written on the people’s hearts. We can still say and do as we will, there may be a price to pay; but, know for sure, we will have the society that we make. We do have a perfectly good paradigm to work within, the Constitution. Two parties are sufficient, three would dilute us in relation to the presumptuous ruling class. Goldwater, Reagan, and Buckley regained control of the Republican Party once, it can be done again. And while we are at it, our “government can always do things best ” friends can take back their party, endorse free markets, toss out the corrupt, and put the Socialists on the back bench of the Democrat party. Our primary elections afford us this opportunity, sweep our own houses free of cobwebs, and then vote the practical choice in the general elections. In the meantime, let us examine our consciences, and search for the intersection of the natural Law given to us and the written laws we endorse. And just maybe, we can return to our churches and do a little sweeping there also.
Chairman, the coffee committee