7/10/2015 - David Limbaugh Townhall.com
When Benjamin Franklin emerged from
Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention, a lady asked
him what kind of government had been formed. Franklin reportedly responded,
"A republic, if you can keep it."
Franklin's answer has always been
interesting because it revealed that he well understood the profound difference
between a pure democracy and a constitutional republic. But far more intriguing
to me was Franklin's implied concern that the newly crafted scheme of
government was hardly self-sustaining and ultimately vulnerable.
He and the other framers understood
that liberty was rare in world history and that it would be no easy task to
design a system that would both maximize and preserve it. I believe that until
relatively recently most Americans cherished this system precisely because it
was uniquely equipped to accomplish those purposes. Now I am not so sure.
The framers established a federal
government with sufficient power to ensure ordered liberty, but with a host of
limitations on its power. Governmental power was divided between the federal
government and the states, and federal power was divided among three branches
that would each check encroachments by the others. They set up a bicameral
legislature to further diffuse federal power and eventually drafted a Bill of
Rights to expressly guarantee civil liberties against government intrusion --
and much more.
This system was vastly superior to
the celebrated "democratic" systems of ancient Greece and the Roman
Republic. It wasn't the first system to include popular participation in the
decisions of government. It was unique because it was the first to impose
significant limitations on government.
It is those limitations that ensure
our liberties. It is those limitations that make America the greatest nation in
world history and the envy of all mankind. It is the deliberate erosion and
destruction of those limitations that existentially threatens this nation
today.
Don't you see? Franklin knew as well
as anyone the powerful safeguards he and the other framers had imposed to
maximize and preserve liberty, and yet he knew that human nature was such that
this system would still be vulnerable to abuse and attack. "A republic, if
you can keep it."
No matter how ingeniously designed,
the Constitution and laws are not immune from fascists who, under color of law,
ignore their plain meaning. Checks and balances ultimately break down if those
wielding power twist, pervert, ignore, selectively enforce and flout the law.
This is why character matters so
much; this is why morality is foundational to government. Any system of
self-governance, even one as glorious as ours, ultimately depends on the honor
of the people living under it.
Anti-constitutionalists have been
chipping away at the integrity of the Constitution for decades, for they prefer
the forcible imposition of their own values and agenda more than they cherish
liberty. But the process of dismantling our system has now accelerated to
alarming levels -- it has reached a fever pitch -- as the puffed-up left is
feeling its oats, intoxicated by a bitter president anxious to exact revenge on
a nation he obviously believes was born in hell.
Why would President Obama have any
hesitation in emasculating the Constitution and the rule of law when he resents
its very formation and what it represents? Why would he protect our borders
against illegal immigration when he doesn't believe in the system the legal
immigration process is designed to promote -- especially when changing the
demographics is virtually guaranteed to increase the power of radical leftists?
I don't expect to get through to
people who, like Obama, believe America, as founded, is intrinsically unfair,
but I challenge fellow freedom lovers to consider that Obama and his band of
leftists don't really care so much about things like expanding people's access
to quality health care; they don't care about putting people back to work; they
don't even care about harmony among the races.
What they care about is
consolidating their power and imposing their will, and they use these various
hot-button causes to do so. They want to have their way, and they are using
government in unprecedented ways to achieve it -- absolutely unconcerned about
the destroyed liberties in their wake. They are showing their true colors as
they freely trample on the Constitution and rule of law. They are not only
encroaching on the liberties of their opponents; they are openly trying to
muzzle them.
More and more people are starting to
wake up to the extremism of the political left, which, incidentally, has taken
firm control of today's Democratic Party to the point that pundits across the
board are acknowledging that unapologetic socialist Bernie Sanders risks
nothing in proudly advertising his socialist agenda to his base. In fact, his
openness has forced Hillary Clinton to scramble even further leftward to
compete.
I pray that freedom lovers and
patriots will muster the same passion in defending this nation as those
attacking it. The first step is to recognize what's going on. Is it possible
that even some rank-and-file Democrats can set aside their allegiance to party
affiliation long enough to open their eyes to it?
That's a long shot. But could at
least those who call themselves Republicans wipe the sleep out of their eyes
and rise up in defense of liberty and this our rapidly disintegrating America?
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