I read an article by Brian Maher in which he contrasts the differences between the American Revolution and French Revolution. In general, he postulates that the American Revolution was more about reform so that the Americans might better return to and preserve their rights guaranteed under English Law. The French Revolution, instead, was a complete tear down and rebuilding of society to include changing the calendar and throwing out God. Needless to say, this article has gotten me thinking about current events in the world and the similarities so succinctly presented and argued by Mr. Maher.
While reading his article I could not help but look at the Globalist Socialist Movement and sense that they are revolutionaries in the sense of the French Revolutionaries. They provide no value to society as it exists currently and quite frankly have no respect for our society, its norms and especially for the US Constitution. True no society and its government is perfect and I agree many of the things happening today in society and in government should be changed, however, I do not think we should not throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. I believe the way to approach change is through the constitutional framework already established that led this country to become the greatest country on earth.
Do I believe this is possible and practical? I am unsure because on a societal level the fundamental respects necessary for a constitutional republic have been slowly eroded almost from the beginning and are being eroded even more rapidly leading up to today. For those with knowledge of mathematics the equations signifying this erosion with respect to time is not linear but rather is at a minimum a second order or exponential function. So, if one were to look at a graph with time on the bottom axis and disrespect for the constitutional republic on the vertical axis to the left, the curve would start out as a line barely perceptible at the time of the US Constitution’s ratification and continue barely rising for several decades. Of course, there would be some blips and nothing is perfect and smooth when it relates to humans and their behavior. Starting with the US Civil War we would start to see the line move away from horizontal. Then with the age of the Robber Barons and Trust Busting the curve would increase more and more away from a horizontal orientation faster and faster and begin to look more and more like a vertical line today. Thinking about this curve I cannot help but think how this curve directly correlates to the size and power of governments in our lives. Yes, I mean governments, plural.
OK, great, so what and now what? This leads to fundamental question of how to reverse a trend that has building steam, so to speak, for centuries. What went wrong in the interpretations and implementations of law so that the law, government and society in general no longer respect, understand, or care to know about what I consider to be the most beautiful document for governing people the world has ever seen? Is it mans want for security over freedom or perhaps sheer laziness to exert the energy necessary to thrive in freedom? Is it perfect? Obviously not because we are in the situation that we currently find ourselves in. However, the spirit of the Constitution is one of beauty and we must not allow this spirit to be tarnished any more than it already has. We must remember that the men who created this wonderful document were “firmly grounded in the good, hard earth – and history” as Mr. Maher stated in his article. Something missing in most law makers today.
I often find myself asking how do I as a citizen who respects, honors, and have taken an oath several times to defend the Constitution defend this document? How do I defend this document against people who have no respect for or intention of defending it both inside and outside of government both foreign and domestic? Who and what groups really are in insurrection against the foundations of our Constitutional republic? At what point, if at all, is it OK to ignore the Constitution to prosecute those who do not respect it both inside and outside of government both foreign and domestic and what would that look like? Being seriously uncomfortable with the previous sentence and its ramifications perhaps we should be asking how do we Constitutionally declare war against the enemies of our Constitution, both foreign and domestic? Honestly, it frightens me and makes me shudder to think about what such a declaration could lead to in the short term. In the long term it maybe the best course of action but it will not be easy in the least.
Unfortunately, I have asked a whole bunch of questions and I have no answers or at least any answers I would like to share in a public forum. No answers that I would want to share or discuss in a public forum in a society that is becoming increasingly polarized and seemingly unable to take a step back and have civil and reasoned discourse.