The Founding Fathers of the United States left behind a blueprint for a successful Republic for hundreds of years forward.
The U.S. is rapidly approaching its 250th birthday. What will its future be? There are many things that are in common between America and Judaism. One of them is the belief that a “founding document” is relevant for all times and circumstances. For religious Jews, the Torah—given on Mt. Sinai over 3,300 years ago—is considered a document as relevant today as it was on the day it was given. Torah scholars throughout the generations have been able to determine the place and relevance of cars, electric lights, drugs, meat alternatives and every other change and invention. The principles passed along from generation to generation have led modern rabbinic authorities to rule on issues surrounding Covid and the status of a cloned human being. For a religious Jew, the Torah will always be relevant for any age and any situation.
The same would hold true for the U.S. Constitution. Whereas many on the left discuss ditching or significantly modifying America’s founding documents, those on the right look to a government and its representatives that follows the Constitution as it exists. Freedom of speech and the right to bear arms mean exactly what they sound like, and it is not for the government or the courts to abridge God-given rights set by the Constitution and its amendments. But what if the U.S. did not have a Constitution or we heeded the left’s call to have a more “living” document that can be changed or dropped at the whim of the current generation?
One can often learn a great deal about somebody or something by looking at its opposite. If one only knew of the death and destruction wrought by the Nazis, he would conclude that those who fought them must be on the right side of justice. So, while America fought Britain in 1776 and separated herself from the king, other nations did no such things. Let’s look at some of the Anglo countries that stayed true to the monarchy and today are members of the British Commonwealth, though independent. Let’s take a look at Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even England itself.
*Canada. A beautiful country with very nice people. But its government can be draconian in its treatment of the people. One can easily recall the “truck convoy” protests and how anyone who even contributed to the truckers found his or her bank account frozen. Justin Trudeau rules as a Marxist tyrant and routinely rolls over the rights of the people in the name of some leftwing goal. Canadians were heavily put upon by their government during Covid, and Trudeau’s collapsing government hopefully signals that some normalcy might return to our northern neighbor.
*Australia. Down under, they took away the people’s guns. As I wrote earlier this week, they are not giving visas to any Israeli who served in the IDF. Antisemitism is on the rise, with a synagogue in Melbourne being recently torched. The first city to have “death to the Jews” heard during the pro-Hamas rallies in October 2023 was Sydney. Australians, like Canadians, learned during Covid that their rights are given by the government—and taken away by the same when it suits the ruling party’s interests.
*New Zealand. The country may have been the most extreme during Covid. Its batty prime minister demanded no deaths and not even any infections. The country was effectively shut down and cut off from the world for extended periods of time during the pandemic. The prime minister is gone but the country remains less free by every metric than is the U.S.
*Britain. The country from which we gained our freedom has been transformed into something that not even Orwell would have recognized. Pro-Hamas goons demand the death of all Israelis, while the cops arrest some guy standing on the side while holding an Israeli flag. Old Brits are arrested for writing on Facebook that they do not want Palestinian flags flying all over the place. England has decided that its citizens’ freedoms are up to the whim of the government. If you say something or post something that falls afoul of some minister for thought control, you might be dragged off to jail by a couple of England’s finest.
We often do not appreciate the wisdom of our elders. As time passes since my parents left this world, I often find myself appreciating the wisdom they passed along or the way that they brought us up. And when looking at the U.S. compared to the countries that did not make a revolution against England, one should be grateful that we have the U.S. Constitution. Those countries also have their founding documents, but the American founding fathers described an American’s rights as being God-given and thus inviolable. In Canada, you can have a bank account until you run afoul of the authorities. In New Zealand, you might have a crazed prime minister who will keep you locked in your house because she does not know that risk analysis also has a second side, like a job or business or school or personal health and sanity. In England, your Facebook account has a new friend: His Majesty’s Nudnik. His job is to make sure that even in your own private communications you bend the knee to the left-leaning spirit of the time. Sure, the pro-Hamas guys are beating people in the streets. But woe to he who dares to criticize them online. You are worse than an IRA terrorist.
The American left would love to monitor online chatter a la England, as it tried to do through its Orwellian “Disinformation Office.” They’d love to follow Australia and scoop up the guns so that the Second Amendment remains just words on parchment. They emulated New Zealand when a lone surfer was chased by the police on an empty California beach during the pandemic—whom could she hurt? Nobody, but she was violating the dictate of the state—and that alone is punishable. And like Canada, they would love to dilute the Supreme Court and banish the filibuster so that the president from their party would act as a veritable dictator over the citizens turned peasants. When the left looks at the other former British properties, they see a road map. When the right sees arrests for online speech and gun “buy-backs” in Australia, they see warning lights. The Founding Fathers were looking way down field when they set up the basic intellectual and legal framework for the US. It’s a fragile Republic—if you can keep it. Let’s keep America going in the spirit of those who set the country on its way. 250 years young and still going.