Approaching The 250th Anniversary of the Constitution, Which Is Increasingly Being Bypassed
By
Allan C. Brownfeld
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In the 1980s, as we approached the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, I wrote a pamphlet entitled “American Freedom: Thr next 200 Years.” This was developed into a lecture, which I delivered for many years to high school students from around the country who attended seminars conducted at Freedoms Foundation in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
My talk began this way: “From the beginning of recorded history until the present time, very few societies have lived in freedom. Today, the majority of the world’s people live under one form of authoritarian government or another. In the ancient world, Athens and Rome maintained freedom for approximately 200 years. Then, for a variety of reasons , it ceased to exist and total government power and authority replaced it. Freedom has always been the exception, not the rule. These should be sobering thoughts as we enter the third century of the American Republic.”
The Framers of the Constitution understood man’s nature. They attempted to form a government which was consistent with—-not contrary to—-that nature. Alexander Hamilton pointed out that, “Here we have already seen enough of the fallacy and extravagance of those idle theories which have amused us with promises of an exemption from the imperfections, weaknesses, and evils incident to society in every shape.”
The written and spoken words of the men who led the Revolution give us numerous examples of the fear and suspicion of power and the men who held it. Samuel Adams asserted that, “There is a degree of watchfulness over all men possessed of power or influence upon which the liberties of mankind much depend. It is necessary to guard against the infirmities of the best as well as of the worst of men. Jealousy is the best security of public liberty.”
From the beginning of history, the great philosophers predicted that democratic government would erode. Plato, Aristotle, De Tocqueville, Lord Bryce and Macaulay predicted that men would give away freedom voluntarily for what they perceived as greater security. Macaulay, looking to America, declared that, “Either some Caesar or Napoleon will seize the reigns of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians as the Roman Empire was—-with this difference, that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country, by your institutions.”
Early in our country’s history, perceptive men such as John Calhoun predicted that government would inevitably grow and that those in power would always advocate a “broad” use of power and those out of power would always argue for a “narrow” use of power, and that no one would ever turn back government authority which had once been assumed.
In “A Disquisition on American Government,” Calhoun noted that, “A written Constitution certainly has many and considerable advantages, but it is a great mistake to suppose that the mere insertion of provisions to restrict and limit the power of government, without investing those for whose protection they are inserted with the means of enforcing their observance, will be sufficient to prevent the major and dominant party from abusing its powers. Being the party in possession of government, they will…be in favor of the powers granted by the Constitution and opposed to the restrictions intended to limit them….In a contest so unequal, the result would not be doubtful. The party in favor of the restrictions would be overpowered…The end of the contest would be the subversion of the Constitution…the restrictions would ultimately be annulled and the government be converted into one of unlimited powers.”
Consider our history. Republicans opposed big government when Democrats were in power, but spoke of concepts such as “executive privilege” when their own party held positions of authority. The Democrats have done exactly the same thing. The growth of government has been a steady process since 1789, regardless of who was in office—-Federalist, Democrat, Republican or Whig—-liberal or conservative.
The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to declare war. The last time it did so was after Pearl Harbor in 1941. Since then we have gone to war in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and in other places without a congressional declaration. Both Republicans and Democrats have engaged in this clear violation of the Constitutional mandate.
In his volume, “The Way We Go To War,” Merlo Pusey wrote: “In 1787, the Founding Fathers resolved that it could not be, and the country held to that principle with little deviation for a century and a half. In recent years, however, the President has been exercising the power to make war with alarming consistency. One-man decisions involving the lives of citizens have become the rule at a time when the President has at his command more power than any other human being has ever had.”
Government power was divided in order to prevent excessive domination by any one branch of government. In a letter to James Madison in 1789, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We have already given in example one effectual check to the Dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who are to spend to those who are to pay.”
All too often, members of Congress have delegated their authority to others. In the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Congress told the President he could do whatever he found necessary with regard to fighting a war in Southeast Asia. During President Nixon’s first administration, Congress passed what was, in effect,an economic Gulf of Tonkin Resolution—-declaring that the President could do whatever he found necessary with regard to fighting a war against inflation by giving him discretionary wage and price control authority. Thus, Congress turned the power which is granted to it by the Constitution over to the executive. This is not what it was elected to do.
Congress has also abdicated much of its power to the new fourth branch of government, the bureaucracy, made up of people who have been elected by no one and who have no obligation to return to the people at specific intervals for their approval,or disapproval. Beginning in 1887, when Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission, more and more commissions have been established,covering a wide area of the nation’s social activities. In most instances, Congress has delegated the power to “issue such regulations and orders as it may deem necessary and proper…”
In December, for the second time, the Biden administration bypassed Congress to approve an arms sale to Israel as it continues to prosecute its war in Gaza under increasing international criticism. The purchase bypasses the congressional review requirement for foreign military sales. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) has called for a cease-fire and said, “It must be clear that America will not write a blank check for mass displacement.”
Columnist George Will described a typical act of disregard for the law by the Biden administration: “Biden nominated Ann Carlson last March to be administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration . Two months later, when it was clear that the Senate would not confirm her, Biden withdrew the nomination. But less than five weeks after that, he named Carlson acting administrator. His impertinence would perhaps be limited by the Vacancies Act to 210 days, which would expire Dec. 26. Furthermore, the Supreme Court has held that the act prohibits ‘any person who has been nominated to fill any vacant office from performing that office’s duties in an acting capacity.’”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) says, “It would be odd indeed for the law to prohibit someone to serve as acting while nomination is pending but to allow them to serve as acting after their nomination was pulled.”
The American government is the oldest in the world today. No other country lives under the same form of government which existed in their society nearly 250 years ago——only Americans. But our government has changed dramatically and our Constitution has slowly been altered, and its division of powers and checks and balances has eroded.
It is interesting to note that the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution also marked the 200th anniversary of the publication of Edward Gibbon’s classic work, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”
At a conference held in Washington, D. C. in November 1975, the question faced by the scholars from throughout the country was: “Why did Rome fall? Are we next?” Speaking of Gibbon’s work, Jaroslav J. Pelikan, Dean of Yale’s graduate school, said it was a “benchmark of historical imagination .” He spoke of changing attitudes of contemporary America toward the family, of the disappearance of common myths, of moral relativism and self-indulgence . In the Roman Empire, Dean Pelikan noted, only a minority could indulge its senses. “everybody’s entitled to be depraved now,” he pointed out.
Recalling Gibbon’s account of the bread and circus mentality, Pelikan said that, “The Roman people considered the circus as their home, their temple, and seat of the republic.” Yet, he declared, the circus had not endangered statesmanship. “The difference is that those people did not vote,” he noted, and that they could therefore indulge themselves more responsibly than in today’s America, where democracy depends on the citizen’s fragile knowledge and indifferent suffrage.
Many believe that history seems to be on the side of those who have seen fit to draw parallels between today’s America and yesterday’s Rome. Freedom and liberty have existed in few places for short periods of time. The Founding Fathers created a system of limited government, checks and balances and clearly defined powers. Instead of having faith in man’s goodness, they looked at the world’s history and concluded that the best protection for freedom was not in an utopian faith that man would act properly and justly, but instead in a system which would not give any man too much power over any other.
There is, in reality, little that is new in man’s history. In his fable of the wolf and the lamb, Aesop, who lived in the 6th century B.C., said, “Those who voluntarily put power into the hands of a tyrant or an enemy, must not wonder if it be at last turned against themselves.” Whoever has unlimited power, even if it is the majority of people themselves, tends to become that tyrant or enemy. If the United States is to avoid the decline which overtook Rome, it will require a conscious effort. If history simply takes its course, the future of freedom may not be bright.
The Founding Fathers knew that self-government was difficult and arduous. Benjamin Franklin said that the Founders were bestowing to future generations , “A Republic if you can keep it.” We should think about these things as we approach our 250th anniversary.
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