The Founding Fathers knew human nature. They also knew history, particularly the history of the great empires of Greece and Rome. While they didn't know that America would grow into the most successful, wealthy, and powerful nation in history, they did have hope that it would endure and provide the freedom for its citizens that they wished and had fought for themselves.
Our government was set up to limit its power and, while there was never any way to stop it's growth or accumulation of power at the expense of the rights of individual citizens, the did try to build in roadblocks in the path to such power. They split the legislative branch into two with only one reflecting the number of citizens in each respective state while the other had the same number regardless of size. Power was similarly divided between the Legislative branch and the Executive Branch, and a Supreme Court was created with the power to stop or reverse actions by either branch to act contrary to the Constitutional guarantees. Terms of office were staggered, with 2, 4, and 6 year terms set to further complicate attempts to gain power at the expense of the people.
Recognizing the danger of combining the power to rule with the "higher" authority of any one religion, they even stipulated that one's religion could not be a pre-requisite for holding office and that no particular religion could be made the country's "Official" religion, as was true in Great Britain. Yet they also mandated that religious worship be the free guaranteed choice of any citizen, not to be interfered with by any government.
They tried.
Just as with those who built the Greek empire and, later, the Roman empire...they failed.
An objective study of history suggests that the evil that resides in the human species is not to be denied...particularly over time; a combination of narcissism and of greed ultimately defeats all bonds designed to insure honesty, moral standards and respecting all human beings as equal. That is what destroyed Greece...and Rome, and what is clearly happening (one could claim that it has already happened) in the United States.
Do you disagree?
The downfall is gradual, happening in small incremental steps that go largely unnoticed...at least as to the (perhaps) unintended consequences.
First: Ownership of property...the basis for taxation...is eliminated and non-owners of property are given the vote. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that when spending decisions are made by those elected by people who aren't paying taxes, no limits on conflagrate spending exist. In our respective households, spending is controlled by those who earn the money to be spent if disaster is to be avoided. No such limit survived at the Federal level.
But that was just the start.
- Shortly after the nation was formed (circa 1790), each member of the House of Representative was elected by approximately one thousand one hundred (1,100) voters
- In 1909, each member of the House was elected by Twenty-three thousand nine hundred fifty-one (23,951) voters
- In 2016, each member of the House was elected by Two Hundred Ninety-Six Thousand (296,000) voters.
Second: Freedom of Speech was redefined. What originally was understood to be prohibition against prior restraint on speech, in no way restricting consequences of all speech, was inferred by the courts as a prohibition of consequences of speech. Further, the Press (now, media in general) was granted immunity from prosecution for libel when making false statement about "public" figures absent proof of Malice...and the courts have revealed themselves as being less than anxious to a finding of malice even when the average citizen would have no such hesitation. That Freedom of Speech was also permitted to be used in the promotion of governmental systems antithetic to the existence of a Democratic Republic. Those who preferred a Socialist, Marxist, Fascist or Dictatorship to any democratic form of rule were, and remain, free to argue for such and if supported by the Press, free to promote such ideologies with lies, fictional claims and even physical attacks with no consequences.
Third: Freedom of Religion. Already mentioned early on but expanding and clarifying the developments, the courts once again have defined Freedom OF Religion to mean Freedom FROM Religion in the public square; evidence and the appearance of the Ten Commandments are legally removed and prohibited from public lands public buildings. The removal of the moral precepts contained therein from public view, the legal removal of daily prayer to start a school day and the prohibition of discussion of religious beliefs in schools, Universities, Colleges, Town Halls and Courtrooms has lead to a removal of absolute standards for civilized behavior in return for continually decreasing comparative standards of behavior allowed to be exhibited regardless of their lawlessness.
Curiously, America's apparant desire to disrespect and remove any behavioral authority of the Christian religion does not interfere with the clear respect afforded the religious beliefs of Islam, which is the only religion of which I am aware that directs it's followers to kill those who speak in opposition to Islam, to strive for political power that, if attained is to be used to eliminate all other religions and install Islam law and standards as part of governmental rule. The motivation for this attitude is murky and the logic totally escapes any analytical mind.
Fourth: Education. Mentioned last, but likely the most influential element in the destruction of America, education at the start of the Twentieth Century was established for all and based on the Prussian Model. It involved the teaching of basic civil skills (arithmatic, reading, writing and some history) and creating a mind-set that accepted regimented behavior.
In America, the regimentation portion of the curriculum was rendered inconsequential because of the need for all members of a family to work in order to survive and the constantly expressed corrective attitudes of parents when reviewing what their children had been "taught." But the freedom of schools to explore different areas of learning was left in local control, and with teachers in short supply, that control quickly moved into the hands of teachers. At the same time, those with socialist, Marxist, communist and fascist ideological beliefs found education to be an area of employment that did not prevent them expressing, albeit diplomatically, their beliefs regarding life and government. By mid-century they were firmly in power of k-12 education and by the 1970s held firm control, as yet not declared, of a majority of Colleges and Universities. As the Twenty-first Century dawned they began to reveal their ideologies, and "free" speech began to be denied to anyone espousing Democratic, Conservative or Moral Precepts that Leftist Activists found objectionable or disrespecting of their own views.
And so it is today.
Anarchist violence exists with approval in a number of our nation's cities. Elected officials actually support those who commit the violence, encouraging contributions to bail out those who have destroyed the property of others, who have assaulted and even killed U.S.Citizens and been revealed to be non-citizens in the country illegally and with pre-existing felony convictions. We have elected people to public office who want to interfere and even eliminate law enforcement that protects the average citizen, even as those same elected individuals employ security forces, both private and public, to provide for their armed protection.
Does this sound like a country on a firm foundation, on track to continued success.
When questionable election activity cast doubt on the veracity of election results, and the highest court in the land refuses to examine the matter, does that sound to you like a country that will long exist in its present form?
