A Republic, If You Can Keep It

By Douglas V. Gibbs

Harry Reid and Barack Obama have unleashed what is being called the "Nuclear Option."  The U.S. Senate rule change is designed to enable Barack Obama to pack the courts, and render the Congress powerless.  The Democrats want what they want, and they are willing to go to any lengths to achieve their statist goals.  All of the little groups that the liberal left have set against each other are too busy demanding their little agendas to feel the noose tightening around their necks, and the shackles being placed on their limbs.  The Democrats aim to control us, to micro-manage our lives, through bigger government, and we have been positioned by them in such a way that we are not only letting them do it, but many folks are actually calling for it.

In 1787, after four months of intense debate, the signers of the United States Constitution emerged from Independence Hall satisfied men.  With the belief that Divine Providence had guided the negotiations, they had created a federal government that would protect, preserve, and promote the union of sovereign States.  The government, according to the Constitution, was to be limited to only the external issues, leaving the local issues to the States, where they belonged.  Checks and Balances were interwoven throughout the system to protect the new nation against a rise of tyranny from within.  A Separation of Powers divided the power, keeping the three branches of government withing their own authorities, and allowing the States, through the United States Senate, to maintain a little control, through their "advise and consent" powers, of the government that the founders were positive would do as all central governments do. . . try to grow bigger and infringe on the rights of the citizens.

The Founding Fathers studied history, from Britain's own Anglo-Saxons, to Greece, Slovenia, and Rome.  They discarded the parts of the systems they believed would lead the United States towards democracy or oligarchy, recognizing that both political philosophies were dangerous, and kept the concepts that supported their idea of a constitutional republic that functions under the "rule of law," rather than the "rule of man."

Benjamin Franklin, the elder statesman, was particularly satisfied, and as he walked across the lawn a woman approached him, and asked, "Sir, what have you given us?"

Franklin probably adjusted his round spectacles, allowed a brief glimpse of a smile brush across his lips, and then leaned a little forward toward the woman, and said, "A republic, if you can keep it."

What did Benjamin Franklin mean by those words?  What did he mean, "If you can keep it?"  Was the system the founders gave to us through the United States Constitution something that would take vigilance to keep?  Would Americans need to labor constantly to maintain the liberty provided by their representative republic?

The answer to the last two questions is, "Yes."

For millions, the principles in the U.S. Constitution have provided freedom and opportunity. America has indeed become the shining beacon on the hill, and we have The Creator, our Founding Fathers, to thank for that. But none of those principles and protections of rights in the Constitution are guarantees. Liberty must be continually fought for. Without our effort to conserve the Constitution, and the government it established, the Constitution is no more than a bunch of pages with ink on them.

It is up to our willingness to keep the flame of liberty alive.

We The People have endured countless storms, and our forefathers endured countless sacrifices. These patriots did these things to keep the hope and promise of a lasting union intact so that their posterity, namely “us,” may enjoy an exceptional nation of liberty. Part of the fight to preserve liberty is through education. We must know where we came from, and how we got here.

The United States is exceptional.  This country is different from all of the others around the world.  Our exceptionalism emerged long before the United States became a nation.  The conditions through which the American Colonies were formed, and their belief in Divine Providence, contributed to the exceptional nature of the United States of America.

This nation was not only exceptional at its founding, but became increasingly exceptional over the passage of time.  The exceptionalism this country enjoys will no doubt continue well into the future, as long as the concept of exceptionalism is defended by the individuals that make up the grand experiment known as The United States of America.

The exceptional nature of the United States has been important not only to the growth of this country both geographically and economically, but to the many other peoples around the world.  Our exceptionalism has set us apart in many ways, defining our character as a nation of opportunity, revealing our individualistic nature that has given way to self-reliance, and prosperity.  Americans are more likely to “pull themselves up by the bootstraps” and engage any challenge that may come their way.  We tend to be more personally responsible, we work harder, hold disdain for statism, are more charitable, and are more likely to participate in civic activities.  Best of all, we do these things voluntarily, because we are free to as individuals.

Americans are patriotic.  We are proud to be Americans.

Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 and 1832 recognized the exceptional nature of the United States, and was amazed at how the politicians prayed, and the pastors preached politics, but government did not control religion, and the church restrained itself from intertwining itself with government.  He noticed that though there was a certain level of separation between church and state, they also depended upon each other in a symbiotic manner.  Tocqueville realized that America is great because America is good.

Alexis de Tocqueville was astonished by America because among the elites in Europe there was an anti-American sentiment that was sometimes believed by members of the general populace.  The truth he learned by visiting the United States was very different from the criticisms of America by the political ruling classes of Europe.

Sigmund Freud said, “America is a great mistake.” 

“Anti-Americanism was an elite view,” James Q. Wilson commented in an article in The American, “but it has spread deeper to publics here and abroad.”

Clearly, American Culture is different from any other culture in the world.  The level of patriotism, individualism, religious beliefs, and our spirit of self-reliance sets the United States apart as a nation.  As revealed in our founding documents, and the example provided by the everyday lives of Americans, we are a culture that holds dear our individual rights, while keeping a watchful eye on a potentially intrusive government.  As a society, we largely support the limiting principles of the United States Constitution, expecting the role of the federal government to be restrained to only those functions necessary for protecting, promoting, and preserving the union.  We expect our economy to grow as a result of a flourishing free market, with as little governmental interference as possible.  Individualism means that we may encounter personal consequences, and we are fine with that, rather than expecting the government to somehow mend any vestige of perceived inequality. 

The early history of America set the tone for our exceptionalism.  Historically, America is diverse, rugged, and a land of individual opportunity.  And for this, the United States was blessed with an incredible influx of immigrants who came to this nation desiring the opportunity to participate in the freedom, and exceptionalism, that America had to offer.

The exceptionalism of the United States, however, is frowned upon by political elites, and certain politicians have made it their priority to fundamentally change the complexion of this nation into something that more resembles the systems of Europe, and other parts of the world.  They wish to eliminate American distinctiveness, fearing that it betrays a certain kind of arrogance.

Historically, societies that allow government to be less restrained end up bogged down by governmental interference.  America’s prosperity is the nation’s defiance against such systems of communitarianism.  The U.S. has purposely aimed to be as unlike Europe as much as possible.  The distinctiveness of this country directly contributes to our exponential growth as a nation.  Capitalism in America has enabled our culture to take full advantage of America’s commercial potential.  Self-imposed discipline has fueled the free enterprise system, and this opportunity to succeed in the United States, and for the nation to prosper as a result, has specifically been because of the exceptional nature of America that works endlessly to disallow governmental attempts at intrusive regulations.

American Exceptionalism is American Individualism.  We cherish our personal freedom, and though community and family is important, we place the freedoms of the individual above the perceived needs of the community.  As a result, the community better benefits from the self-reliance, personal responsibility, and successes of the individuals.

America is exceptional because Americans are individuals.  America is great because those individuals are good.

Like We The People, the States are also supposed to be individuals.  They are supposed to be able to make their own decisions on local issues, without federal interference.  It is okay if the States are different from each other.  Their individuality is what creates innovation, and a system where people can move to a State that best fits their desired lifestyle.

Joe Klein, a liberal left progressive columnist for TIME Magazine, at the end of his "Obama's Fairness Doctrine" article in the February 6, 2012 issue, wrote, "It is a reminder that the Constitution was a stitching device, written to unify and control the states, not merely to liberate them."

Mr. Klein could not be more wrong.  It was the other way around.  The Constitution was a unifying device designed to create a federal government that would handle external issues that the individual States could not, while serving the States, and protecting their autonomy.  The Constitution did not create the federal government to control the States, but to serve the States, and be controlled by the States so it would not centralize further, and become a tyranny.

The colonies, from the beginning, were separate, self-sufficient, independent entities. Each colony had its own unique culture, its own religion, and even its own political system. The individual colonies were like siblings that fought against each other constantly, while coming to each other’s aid when they felt it was necessary. The American Revolution taught the newly independent states that if they were to survive, they would need to continue to function as a union. It took uniting as a single force to defeat the British, and it would take being united as a country to survive as a nation.

A central government, the Founding Fathers realized, was necessary, but not to be trusted.

Thomas Jefferson went so far as to suggest that to keep the new federal government under control, a new revolution may need to be fought about every twenty years.

As a contract between the States and the newly formed federal government, in the Constitution the States are the granters of powers to the federal government.  The authorities granted by the States are limited in number, reserving the remaining powers to themselves. The limiting principles set forth by the U.S. Constitution were designed to protect the States’ sovereignty while giving the federal government enough authority to properly protect and preserve the union of individual states. As a result, the United States of America was not designed to be a nationalistic entity, but rather a federation of sovereign states that have granted the authority to maintain the union to a federal governmental system. To understand that the Founding Fathers looked upon the new country as a federation of states, and not a nationalistic entity, one must only look to the language they used.

In early America the residents of this country rarely referred to themselves as “Americans.”  They saw themselves as citizens of their States, so they were Virginians, or Pennsylvanians, or New Yorkers before they were Americans.  The States acted as individual sovereign entities, each unique in its culture.  Though the States were united under the Constitution, they viewed themselves as separate and sovereign.

After the American Civil War people stopped referring to the United States in the plural.  After the War Between The States it became “The United States Is.”  Those who support a nationalistic United States suggest that it was then that the United States finally became one nation.  The original intent of the Founding Fathers was not for this country to be ruled by a national government  controlling the States.  The individuality of the States creates a condition much like a free market, where the States learn from each others successes and mistakes.  In that way, innovation is given the opportunity to take place, and when the States innovate, they prosper.

Though a federal government could potentially be a bad thing, the complete lack of a federal government was an even more dangerous proposition.  As a nation, without a federal government wielding enough power to field an army, or tax in order to pay for that army, the new country would not long survive.  The Articles of Confederation, a loose agreement between the States, proved to be too weak in the face of Shays’ Rebellion.  So, the Founding Fathers set out to create a new government with enough power to form a more perfect union, yet limited enough that it did not become a centralized tyranny such as the one the patriots had just defeated in the War of Independence.

The British Empire was ruled by men.  The King believed Britain to be his realm, therefore the concept of property ownership was limited to a small group of land owners, who were the Lords of Britain.  The King, and the nobles, had complete power over making law, and imposing taxes.  The Founding Fathers realized that a nation ruled by an oligarchy of political elite was not compatible with the society that would champion liberty, and individual rights, that the founders desired.

Though we are not an oligarchy, like monarchies, dictatorships, theocracies, and communist countries, we are not necessarily a democracy, either.  A Democracy is a system of government ruled completely by the people.  All laws and governmental functions, in such a system, are determined by the whim of the people. Historically, democracies are transitional governments that, when the people seek a governmental system more efficient and stable than their fickled democracies, become oligarchies, or a governmental system characterized by the many being ruled over by a few political elites.  Therefore, the founders did not desire to create a democratic governmental system.  Ultimately, a democracy always breaks down, and the system that replaces it centralizes, becoming nothing more than a system like the monarchy that the Americans had fought so hard against in order to gain independence.

The conclusion of the Founding Fathers, after all of their research, was that the United States must not be subject to the laws of men, be subjected to the rule of men, or open itself up to become an oligarchy by creating a system that enables too much power to be granted to a single person, group of people, or governmental entity.  The new nation needed to be a nation subject to the laws of God, governed by the rule of law, and have a republican form of government that features a representative system of governance.  The States, and the people, would need to hold sovereign power.  The federal government would need to be limited to authorities only necessary for protecting, preserving and promoting the union.  All other authorities, specifically those authorities that would address issues directly affecting the people, would need to be the responsibilities of the States, and the local governments, where the people have more control over governmental functions.

To achieve their goal, the Founding Fathers determined that the components of this new federal government, as opposed to being a national government, would need to be one with three separate branches of government, whose powers are separated so that no collusion between the branches would be possible, with numerous checks and balances to ensure no part of government wields too much power, have a limitation of authorities to the federal government granted by the States, provide due process of the law with the right of a trial by jury, and be a system that ensures that the federal government does not betray the unalienable rights of the people of the United States.

To achieve this, the Founding Fathers argued and debated heavily for four months in 1787.  The result was the U.S. Constitution, a document like no other.  The American Form of Government, through its constitution, would serve as a protector of the fires of liberty by preserving the union of states, and ensuring that individual freedoms and state sovereignty maintain a voice in the system.  The nation would prosper, to the surprise of the world, and maintain its system of limited government for more than 200 years.

The original intent of the Founding Fathers was not for the American form of government to be a more centralized governmental system, where the central authority wields great power.  When a system becomes centralized, the government uses its power to rule over the people through the rule of man, and in the case of today's system, through the rule of the well-funded.  The rule of law, under such a system, is then transferred to the courts or a small group of powerful elites, and law becomes determined by the opinions of a few powerful men.

We the People have the duty to ensure that our governmental system does not operate outside Constitutional boundaries.  It is our duty to protect our God-given liberty, and restore our Constitutional Republic.  That journey begins with understanding the original intent of the Founding Fathers, and educating ourselves and our posterity about the principles of the U.S. Constitution.  Only then will our government return to the system it was intended to operate under, namely, the rule of law.

In other words, we must work to keep our system as it was originally intended.  We must fight for it.  And we must be educated enough about what it should be so that we may be able to properly defend it.

Benjamin Franklin knew all of this.  He recognized the heavy burden before him, and his posterity.  He said it all in a nut shell to that woman on the lawn in Philadelphia way back in 1787. . . "A republic, if you can keep it."

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary