In an exchange which was recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in a diary entry that was later reproduced in the 1906 American Historical Review, a Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."
Those words, "a republic, if you can keep it," were somewhat prophetic and certainly expressed Franklin's fears that the republic created by the constitutional convention and ratified by the states would one day be lost. Sad to say, Franklin's fears have been realized.
The Constitutional Convention created a limited federal government empowered only for certain specified functions. As the Bill of Rights further guaranteed in Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The federal government's limited powers are clearly spelled out in Article I, Section 8:
1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
5: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
6: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
13: To provide and maintain a Navy;
14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards and other needful Buildings;--And
18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
All other powers remained with the states or with the people. Thus, there was a sharing and balance of power with the states and limitations of federal powers to prevent the federal government from exceeding its constitutional role and becoming a tyrant over the people.
The Constitution, for the protection of the states and the American people, further divided powers within the federal government between the three branches of the federal government: the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches.
This republic, to which we pledge allegiance in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, has been under attack from within for generations and is all but lost. Amendment 17 destroyed part of the balance of power between the states and the federal government by taking away the election of U.S. senators from the state legislatures and giving it to the people. Amendment 16 allowed the federal government to directly tax the people's incomes. Presidents have usurped powers of Congress in regard to entering into wars, Congress legislates on issues in which it has no power to legislate, and federal courts rule in cases and matters which are outside their purview.
If I were to list the abuses and unconstitutional actions of the federal government, the list would far exceed space in years' worth of this publication. Suffice it to say the first official lie of federal elected officials is their oath of office because they swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States and I have yet to see one yet who does, though a small few do, perhaps, try. Few, it seems, realize that to uphold the Constitution would require the federal government to turn over federal lands not used as a military base or for needed government buildings to the states, to shut down all the federal government's social programs, to quit handing out grants and giving subsidies, to leave education in the hands of the states or the people, to declare federal court rulings on marriage and abortion unconstitutional and null and void, to withdraw from military actions not authorized by Congress with a declaration of war, and the list goes on (See Article I, Section 8 above and consider also the duties given to the executive and judicial branches in the Constitution).
And, of course, a final nail in the coffin of our republic may soon come with the push for the president and vice president to be elected by popular vote rather than by the electoral college. And it's often popular media figures who champion this cause and illustrate their lack of understanding.
If and when that happens, individual states will have lost all their representation in federal matters and our republic will have become a simple democracy where the majority can have its way and those in the minority be stripped of their God-given rights and be subjected to tyranny. And, I fear, a tyrannical king might not be as cruel as a tyranny made up by the whims of a majority of voters.
In conclusion, I'll include a quote often attributed to Franklin: "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch." In a true democracy, the lamb will end up being the lunch. In a republic, the rights of the lamb are protected from the abuses of majority rule.
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 01/17/2018