The only thing I can say good about tonight is I am going to keep selling a lot of copies my book Injustice. But I’d gladly trade having a New York Times bestseller for a president who respects the Rule of Law.
One wonders how Romney lost this election. Unemployment and gas prices were up. Respect for American power was down. There are probably many plays which should have been called differently, but others will sort that out.
So what happens next? The Founders gave us a Constitutional architecture which was designed to delay the arrival of demagogues. And make no mistake about it, Obama is a demagogue. He has totalitarian tendencies which manifest over and over and over again. Whether attacking religious liberty, or secured Chrysler bondholders, this man comes from a worldview distinctly un-American.
Thankfully the Constitution still is operative. Some of the liberties the Founders secured are still ours to treasure. The press remains free. We can still assemble. And I suspect after tonight, gun ownership will substantially increase.
But another part of our Constitutional architecture provides solace tonight – the 10th Amendment. Sure, we’ve heard the 10th thrown about for years. But tonight it ripened. Whatever powers aren’t given to the federal government, it doesn’t have. And the states are empowered to push back against federal power.
It’s funny how those wise architects 200 years ago anticipated things we couldn’t anticipate just a decade ago. It is providential that the document contains seeds that sprout over time. The 10th Amendment does not lend itself to the sort of corrupt interpretation that the Commerce Clause does. States retain power, period.
Imagine 1989. The impossible happened that year.
June saw a lone hero stand in front of a Chinese tank. Later that fall, the Soviet bloc crumbled.
It crumbled when Germans, Poles, Romanians, and Hungarians simply said, no more.
They would tolerate no more intrusion into their religious freedom. They would tolerate no more of the oppressive economic state. They broke down walls, both imaginary and real.
1989 and 1776 are years marked by the triumph of liberty. Unlike the bloody 1776, 1989 simply saw individuals refusing to participate in a morally and economically bankrupt system, even if refusal broke any number of laws on the books.
The Founders knew that governments accrue power over time to the detriment of the individual. Today’s election validated one of the most radical and swift accruals in our history.
When governments gain power, individuals lose freedom. Looking out toward the horizon tonight, I wonder how much more freedom Americans will be willing to surrender.
I wonder what the Founders would say to us tonight if they could. Their guidance lives on in the Constitution that they gave us.
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