America 2016 is in a bad place. Our once republic of laws, in which carefully designed institutions served the noble ends enumerated in the Preamble to the Constitution, has been rendered into something resembling a criminal enterprise in which rulers serve their ambition and avarice while the nation suffers.
What to do? While over the course of this blog I have rarely approached extra-constitutional means to restore free government, recent events demand a look at all options. What prompts my reevaluation are Hillary’s get-out-jail-free card from the FBI, and the administration’s ongoing efforts to silence, if not criminalize, political opposition. Institutions designed to secure freedom have been turned into instruments of oppression. Toss in the DHS trial balloon to nationalize presidential elections, and it is clear to even the most dullard that the democrat party does not intend to relinquish power.
Five hundred years ago, Niccolo’ Machiavelli also looked about his beloved republic, Florence, and viewed high corruption. His subsequent study of past republics that found themselves mired in wickedness may offer a clue or two to restoring free American government.
Illegal actions, if not outright felonies, are sometimes necessary to establish republics. Romulus murdered his brother, created a senate, and with it, Rome. Closer to home, George Washington occasionally resorted to the confiscation of private property in order to feed and keep his soldiers. Machiavelli wrote, “It is truly appropriate that while the act accuses him, the result excuses him, and when the result is good, like that of Romulus, it will always excuse him, because one should reproach a man who is violent in order to ruin things, not one who is so in order to set them aright.”
Such men, Machiavellian Men, who use power to establish free institutions that outlive them, are rare.
To the contrary, consider the last eight years of Obama. Among the few promises he kept were those to transform the nation. He did so almost entirely through executive decrees and regulations. These are backed up by the will of one man, and not the enormous heft of republican, statutory law from congress. Along the way, he violated his oath of office too many times to count, and should have been impeached and removed within months of taking office in 2009. An emasculated congress, too timid to even submit appropriation bills to the President, is far too weak to oppose, let alone remove an almost despotic ruler. Obama’s accomplishments are horribly destructive, yet they are built on flimsy foundations and can be reversed by the next President.
When another man takes office in 2017, should he likewise use illegal and unconstitutional means to transform the nation, this time toward the good, rather than for evil? Our nation expects a President Donald Trump to excise the rot, to reverse the decay in government. He is a lifelong seasoned executive who knows how to set priorities, develop plans, give orders and get things done. He doesn’t prevaricate or blame others. Rest assured, in Donald Trump, America will have a president comfortable with selling his ideas to an eager and waiting nation.
Like Obama, President Trump will likely have to go around congress to achieve his ends. Yes, I can hardly believe I’m writing this, that our situation demands extraordinary, extra-constitutional efforts to restore Constitutional, free government. Trump must let the nation know through his actions that the powers unconstitutionally seized by Obama are also his, that he will use them to wipe the executive branch clean of progressives and islamists. When challenged in court, he must do as Obama has done; delay, obfuscate and let the years pass as his political enemies beat their heads against a slow moving justice system.
But unlike Obama, and like Romulus and George Washington, President Trump MUST work to reestablish free government institutions. Along the way, President Trump must encourage the states to apply for an Article V convention to limit the power and jurisdiction of the national government. As a robust leader, he is uniquely qualified to lead an uneasy and restive nation toward renewal of founding principles. Educate the nation how a popularly derived Senate renders the noble ends of our beloved Constitution impossible. Free government can only be restored when congress once again assumes its proper place in our Framers’ wonderful design.
I’m convinced that Donald Trump is the Machiavellian Man of public virtue that America so desperately needs.
We are the many; our oppressors are the few. Be proactive. Be a Re-Founder. Join Convention of States. Sign our COS Petition.
Reference:
Machiavelli, N. (2008). Discourses on Livy, Translated by Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Book I Chapter 9.
Thanks Rodney. Nice transition from history, to the election, and then to Article V. I believe I have disagreed with your assumptions of Trump’s motives and historical record previously, and I still do today. But I do agree that we should reach out to his large and outspoken supporters, as you have today, and point them in the direction of real systematic solutions, as DC can not fix itself.
As George Washington led the first constitutional convention, as the place for states to set up a very limited government. next week a simulation will take place in Williamsburg, Virginia, to NOT construct a new constitution, but to make amendment proposals to restore liberty to states and We the People by putting in place new controls to limit federal overreach. These proposals would be strictly limited to restricting federal government spending, jurisdiction, scope, and term limits. A live simulcast of the Friday activities will be available at http://www.conventionofstates.com/livestreamrsvp. Commissioners from all 50 states, almost entirely made up of actual state legislators, will be split in to three committees to make such amendment proposals and be voted on as a whole in a one state one vote conclusion. This simulation will show how safe and productive such a convention will be.
As you point out an executive can support and promote such a movement even without any direct Article V Constitutional power. We will see this scenario play out in Texas in the coming months as Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Patrick strongly encourage the Texas state houses to pass the COS Project Resolution and become the 9th such state to do so. Hopefully the Trump supporters will take note of this essential process and join in this movement to take back our country and return to self government. Video from 2 days ago in the Texas state capitol is available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23PHjqVAhKo of this executive leadership in legislative committee.
Thank you for the shares and support. I doubt that many of us entirely agree with one another. What matters is our ultimate end, the restoration of free government . . . and soon. George Washington was indeed the indispensable man. I’m not by any means comparing Trump to GW, but I believe Trump seeks fame, and there is no better way to achieve fame than to go down in history as the man who lead the way toward restoration of our freedoms.
Your article appears to champion two wrongs make a right. I could go for your thesis if there was some assurance that Congress would become again one of the three equal branches. I would think we need to repeal the 17th amendment for this to happen. Can a Convention of States propose a repeal of amendments? If Trump were to take the same measures that Obama did, there is such animosity from establishment Republicans toward Trump they may have the courage to impeach him with the help of Democrats. It could be a risky maneuver.
I did appreciate your transition from Trump’s heavy handedness to an Article 5 Convention of States and if this were assured then the risk would be worth trying.
Well, I think you recognized my discomfort. A COS and subsequent state ratification conventions represent the authority of the sovereign people, which is above that of our Constitution and only below God’s Laws of Nature. So yes, a COS can recommend repeal of the 17th Amendment. As for what Trump will do as President, I only hope it is for the good of what remains of our republic.
When you label Trump the “Machiavellian Man of public virtue,” are you saying that you believe he would in fact accomplish the things you mention, or just that he has the skills and temperament to do so? Because while I might have more agreement with the policies that he’d put in place than with Obama’s or Clinton’s, I’ve never seen any indication that Trump cares about the Constitution, the Founder’s ideals, or “free government institutions.”
I typically group conservatives into one of two sorts. Trump, like my state assemblyman, are business conservatives. In the course of running a business, they know first hand the burden of government at all levels. They came to understand what they know through experience and reason. OTOH are book conservatives like me, whose beliefs are also derived from reason, but with lots of help from the great minds of the past.
Trump is the only candidate among almost twenty who promised to secure our southern border and keep out muslims. He clearly intends to “provide for the common defense and to promote the general welfare” I’m also confident his DOJ will actually work to “establish justice,” stop the race baiting, and hopefully bring the high criminals of the Obama administration to real justice. He will not serve in order to enrich himself. He will probably forgo the presidential salary.
For these reasons that come to mind so early in the morning, I believe Trump is a man of public virtue.
Now, will he actually use his amazing skills to lead our nation to a better place, one that survives him and earns him the gratitude of history? Trump hires only the best minds. We’ll know if the restoration of free government is possible by the men and women who have his ear.