Today, September 17 is Constitution Day, and while national observance holidays often go unnoticed, it may well be our most important holiday. All our pressing national problems today are a result of corruption and departure from governance and law enforcement consistent with the Constitution. As a result, our country is threatened more now than at any time since the Civil War.
As background let’s take a stroll back in time. The War of Independence lasted five long years from 1776 to 1781, with the undertrained, underfunded, and underequipped Continental army losing more battles than they won. It was a miracle that the disadvantaged American militia could defeat Great Britain—then the most formidable military power in the world.
The second miracle in forming the United States was the drafting of the Constitution some six years after the Revolutionary War was over. By contemporary standards, it is inconceivable how delegates from thirteen extraordinarily disparate states could muster the forbearance and magnanimity to agree on the terms of a new Constitution. Elder delegate Ben Franklin called the Constitutional Convention delegates to prayer at an early intractable impasse, which brought about a lasting spirit of reconciliation that prevailed through the next three months of deliberations in the blistering heat of summer—culminating in the delegates’ almost unanimous vote of agreement on September 17, 1787.
As good as that Constitution was, it had to be ratified by the states to become the law of the land. Several states withheld support out of fear the Constitution did not protect citizens and states from the inevitable overreach and corruption of federal government power. The influential and large hold-out states—Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts—finally agreed to ratify the Constitution on the condition that ten amendments called the Bill of Rights would be incorporated into the final Constitution. This bill of rights would define and protect both the people’s natural and unalienable rights and also states’ rights against abuse from the federal government.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were revolutionary political doctrines because they clearly delineated citizens’ rights and established that these rights came from God and not the state. These rights being then sovereign and unalienable put the people in charge and government’s role subordinate—not the other way around.
Another genius of the Constitution was that it limited government abuse by creating checks and balances of power between three separate branches of government—the executive, the legislative and the judicial. Another mechanism of check in the Constitution was also to delineate power to be exercised between the federal and state governing authorities.
Frequent elections established by the Constitution also provided another important mechanism to limit the extent and duration of government incompetence and corruption. This also meant that the most sacred responsibility of citizenship established by the Constitution was and is the responsibility of people to be informed, vote, and decide who shall govern.
This combination of limiting governmental power and maximizing peoples’ rights makes the U.S. Constitution unique—the longest-running constitution in human history.
Nevertheless, when power-hungry corrupt people determined to fix election outcomes to install people who are or can be compromised, any constitution can be fundamentally undermined and circumvented, causing disaster for the people.
We can now see the results of political corruption that has undermined the Constitution all around us, the consequences of which threaten America’s survival:
Uncontrolled federal government spending—now adding a trillion dollars to our national debt every ninety days, causing high inflation, and risking a financial collapse.
Record numbers of undocumented, illegal immigrants, foreign government agents, criminals, terrorists, and armed gangs being allowed to enter the United States--some becoming sleeper cells and others expropriating property and overrunning communities.
Compromise of law enforcement by defunding and politicizing the police.
The loss of energy independence.
The censorship and deplatforming of independent voices in the legacy and social media, and the increased government control of media narratives.
The political weaponization of law enforcement at the local, state, and national levels against people expressing their First Amendment rights to protest and challenge government policy and actions.
How can anyone not see that these policies are anything other than an orchestrated effort to subvert and destroy the Constitutional Republic of America?
The Constitution makes it clear that everyone—whether in the public or private sector—is equal before the law. Additionally, every elected federal government office holder, judicial appointee and executive branch cabinet secretary is required to pledge an oath before assuming office, to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Yet today it is obvious that application and compliance with the law is blatantly unequal—relegating the U.S. status to little more than a banana republic. Betrayal of the oath of office has become widespread and crosses party lines.
In a spiritually enlightened Constitutional America, government would be a good steward of taxpayer resources and avoid debt burdens on future generations. Unelected government agencies would all be downsized and be stripped of their ability to make regulatory law, which is the sole responsibility of the legislature. Agencies that could not be reformed and deliver for the American people—like the Department of Education, Homeland Security, the FBI, and CIA—would be entirely restructured and refocused. The military would be recast into armed services with ‘esprit de coeur’ and unmatched excellence and training to fight and win wars.
In a Constitutional America, there would be absolute protection of the people’s rights, and there would be equal justice under the law. The First Amendment would be considered sacred and honored, which would result in a vibrant competition of ideas, creating a public square in which false political narratives and propaganda would be exposed and unable to survive.
After the drafting of the Constitution was completed and signed off by the Constitutional Convention delegates on September 17, 1787, a citizen observer asked Ben Franklin what kind of government had been created. He answered, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Today, 237 years later, Franklin’s warning is more relevant than ever because America’s contemporary enemies foreign and domestic have the Constitution in the crosshairs for destruction. Should we fail to elect a new accountable America First government in November and win the battle to save the Constitution with its Bill of Rights and checks and balances, America’s already compromised freedom and independence would be entirely lost. And so would go the rest of the world.
Scott S. Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger-China. His timeless book, Rediscovering America, has been #1 Amazon New Release in the history genre for eight weeks. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1637581599. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org