BETWEEN THE LINES: The shredding of our Constitution
Our Founding Fathers were wise men, for they knew how corruptive political power could be. Consequently, they went to great lengths to see that it would not be abused by establishing a system of checks and balances among the three branches of government. These were detailed in the first three Amendments to the Constitution.
Over time, the system for the most part effectively worked to minimize abuses by the respective branches. The erosion was slow at first. The executive branch started using executive orders. Nowhere in our Constitution can this power be found.
Initially, executive powers were seldom used and often only applied to smaller issues. They had the force of legislation but were not approved by Congress. An extreme example occurred during World War II when President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order No. 9066, which led to the internment of Japanese-Americans, denying them due process of the law as provided by the Fourth Amendment. Apparently, the Supreme Court looked the other way.
Executive orders have the full force of law, but cannot be vetoed by Congress nor declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Some of these issued by the president can even amend previous executive order. Others — such as the one issued by President Barack Obama on Dec. 19 instituting a national action plan for women, peace and security — can be incredibly vague.
I can promise it will lead to more government bureaucracy.
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention went a step further by dividing authority between the federal and state governments, with the latter being far more prominent. This was spelled out in the 10th Amendment, but time has eroded its original intent. Three significant events in the 20th century forever changed that balance of power, those being World Wars I and II and the Great Depression.
During the same time, the Supreme Court stopped defending the Constitution and started reinterpreting its meaning to suit its own ends.
The authors of this great document still provided a means to correct abuses by government officials. It was called impeachment. It is almost never used, and even the threat of using it seldom surfaces. Hence, justices of the court, congressmen and politicians are free to push the envelope without fear of repercussions.
The final nail in the coffin might have occurred at the end of 2011 when Congress passed, and the president signed, a bill giving the executive branch the power to use the military to arrest Americans and restrain them without due process. Unlike the American colonists who vigorously protested against King George III’s tyranny, Americans today take the loss of their freedom without even a whimper.
Our Constitution was written to prevent the government from denying our God-given inalienable rights. Somewhere along the way we lost sight of that.
Laughlin is a Christian Libertarian. He is an economist, teacher, father, husband and most recently a grandfather. He has written a weekly column for The Tribune for 13 years. He and his wife Gina reside in Meadowlakes. To contact him, email ablaughlin@nctv.com. He is an independent columnist, not a staff member, and his views do not necessarily reflect those of The Tribune or its parent company.