The Declaration of Independence established the reasons for the colonies to separate from England. Thomas Jefferson was eloquent as he wove the philosophies of John Locke into the explanation for the purpose of government. To put it simply, the purpose of government is to protect the rights of its people. Period. For that purpose, the people give the government power to govern -- but only by the consent of the governed. When that compact is broken, when the government oversteps its reach and encroaches on the rights of the governed, it is not only the right but the duty of the people to throw off an abusive government and establish a new one that better protects its citizens. The Rule of Law needed to replace the Rule of Man (otherwise know as the King of England).
The first government of the United States as a confederacy (little "c" folks, stay with me here). A confederacy is a loose association, not a tight organization. As I explained to my students, it's like having a casual friend -- okay to hang out with occasionally but they are not your ride-or-die. The states under the Articles of Confederation were like little independent countries. They could make treaties with other countries, have their own military, coin their own money, and the national government really didn't have any power over the states. A couple of states almost came to violence over a border dispute. States enacted protective tariffs so that their own citizens would buy goods made in the state rather than in the neighboring states. To put it simply, the United States was a hot mess.
Poor George Washington. He had led a rag-tag army of volunteers, poorly fed and poorly equipped, to defeat the preeminent European power of England. After seven years of war, he went home to Mount Vernon, only to watch his new country fall apart with squabbling between the states. He and a few other prominent men met in Annapolis and decided to convene another convention in Philadelphia, this time to craft another government, one that was strong enough to hold the country together yet constrained enough not to step on the rights of its citizens or of the states.
Enter the diminutive James Madison. Mr. Madison arrived at the Constitutional Convention with a PLAN. This plan called for a strong national government but the powers of that national government would be enumerated. Powers not given to the national government would belong to the states and to the people. To avoid the rule of man -- the rule by whim or fancy or self-interest -- there would be checks and balances to the power of the national government. The U.S. Constitution laid out a plan for a Constitutional federal republic and, with some bumps and bruises along the way, seemed to be working fairly well. The United States would be a country where the law ruled.
The twenty-first century arrived along with big money buying big political clout. The executive branch had worked over the decades at seizing more and more power. Presidents were bought and paid for by political machines with shadow mega donors. Presidents sent crates of money to foreign countries that historically were not allies of the United States. Members of the executive branch were not held to account for actions (or lack of actions) that resulted in the deaths of Americans. Taxes increased, and increased, and increased.
Such problems filtered down to the state level, with state prosecutor offices being filled with people who operated not according to the rule of law, but the rule of man, specifically the political agendas of the left. Criminals went unprosecuted if their skin color was dark; white people not only were prosecuted but persecuted and accused of racism without cause. Rioters and looters faced no repercussions for their actions. People and stores fled the cities because the police had no power to enforce laws; the poorest sections of cities became food and medicine deserts when groceries and pharmacies were forced to leave by the rampant crime.
The United States, now in 2024, has become a country where the rule of law takes a back seat to the rule of man. Politics rules. The Southern border with Mexico, thanks to Joseph R. Biden, the current executive in the White House, has become an open gateway to criminals, drug cartels, baby selling, and sex trafficking. Biden ordered the border to be open; Biden ordered the border patrol to stand down, and the past three years of the Biden Administration have allowed over eight million people to stream in from the southern border. These are not people referenced in the poem on the Statue of Liberty, the tired and poor yearning to be free. These are Asians, Africans, military age men from the Middle East, and terrorists flooding into our country. There are many men from Syria, striding into the U.S. wearing matching boots and backpacks. We are being invaded. Hotels, airports, and other public places have become camping sites for homeless illegal immigrants. Students in NYC were told they had to take classes online because their school was being turned into a shelter for these illegal aliens. A school for special needs students in North Carolina is being closed for the same reason. American children who need education and special services are being turned out of their schools thanks to the lawlessness of the Biden Administration.
Because the Biden Administration has failed to enforce immigration laws and has allowed millions of illegal aliens to stream across the southern border, Texas had to work to secure its border. The Biden Administration filed suit to stop Texas. The circuit courts approved a temporary injunction to protect Texas but the Biden Administration appealed to the Supreme Court. The Biden Administration issued a deadline to Texas. In response, 25 governors pledged their support for Texas in its efforts to protect itself against invasion since the Biden Administration has abrogated its responsibility as assigned in Article IV of the Constitution.
The Biden Administration has turned the United States from a country where the Rule of Law protected its citizens to a country where the Rule of Man (and politics) infringes on the rights and safety of its people.
The Rule of Law needs to be upheld. The Rule of Man needs to stop.
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