Joe Pace and I are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, so I was pleasantly surprised to see his Facebook posting on American exceptionalism, which includes the following:
America is different. America isn’t an ethnicity given borders, a tribe with a flag. It was founded on ideas, not the confluence of geography and genetics. It was rooted in the concept that people should govern themselves, that democratic republicanism is superior to autocracy. Not more efficient. But superior. And that each of us has an equivalent stake in our shared destiny.
Amen.
Joe goes on to say:
There are those who will always want to Blame America First because it buys street cred with a certain crowd. And there are those who will claim America can do no wrong, and that we should not even teach our checkered history accurately.
Both are wrong.
Amen again.
I subscribe to the position of the Declaration of Independence that all men are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights. These rights cannot be taken away by a government. Governments are necessary and should be limited to those functions that have the consent of the governed.
We want to thank Mike Johnson for this Op-Ed.
Please direct yours to Editor@GraniteGrok.com.
The Constitution of the United States defines the government, enumerating what the government can and cannot do. The government is structured in three independent branches with checks and balances to foster debate and to prevent tyranny; both the tyranny of the tyrant and the tyranny of the majority, i.e., mob rule.
The American Revolution and its Constitution acted as a catalyst for democratic changes throughout the western world (see here).
We fought a catastrophic Civil War in hopes of resolving the outstanding dichotomy of the Constitution – slavery. Slavery was ended, but the insidious dichotomy remains as racism and the issue is far from resolved.
An ideology called progressivism emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century (see here). Progressives believe that the Constitution is outmoded and that rights flow, not from a creator, but from society, in essence, the government. They have skillfully transformed the government over the past century with the establishment of what is known as the Administrative State.
This bureaucracy currently enacts about 90% of all rules and regulations (in effect laws) and tries about 90% of all court cases of the federal government, all without the consent of the governed guaranteed by the Constitution. See here, here, and here.
It is what it is. The blame game is not beneficial. What’s past is past and is only of value as a history lesson. It is my sense from the histories of self-governing peoples that we are on a trajectory that leads to authoritarian rule.
This is my fear. If the great powers are all ruled by despots, can a new Dark Ages be far behind?
I’m a simple grass-roots voter with an engineering background. As a first step, I recommend modifying the Administrative State such that rules and regulations require Constitutional Article I approval and that Administrative Judges be under Constitutional Article III. We can do this by working together. As Joe Pace says, “We are an exceptional people with an exceptional task. … Let’s get to work.”
Joe Pace is a writer. His current book is titled “MOSS” and well worth the read. Joe is also the chairman of the Kensington, NH, board of selectmen. He and I met over an issue with the town that we resolved through mutually respectful negotiations. I consider Joe to be a friend and I hope it is mutual.
Mike Johnson is a small-government conservative, a live-free-or-die resident of NH, and the author of the e-book John Kerry & PCF-44. E-mail mnosnhoj@comcast.net
