Election polling shows that a large percentage ofAmericans are concerned about threatstotheir democracy. Not surprisingly,theperceived source of that threat is different for those ontheLeft than ontheRight.
Partisanship aside,Americans would do welltoheadtherealrisks ahead fortheAmericanrepublic.
TheAmericanhistorian Will Durant once correctly described democracies as “hectic interludes” inthehistory of governments. Understanding that, long before Durant, Benjamin Franklin respondedtothequestion of what type of governmenttheFounders established, with his historic reply, “aRepublic… if you can keep it.”
President Biden, former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (Getty Images)
Note that Franklin did not say, if your “leaders” can keep it.He placedtheresponsibility on individualAmericans.
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With that in mind, it is true thattheAmericanrepublicis under considerable stresstoday – well beyond any one candidate.Here arethefiverealdangerstotheAmericanform of a free government thatAmericans should recognize and remedy.
Runaway Government Spending
As I have written elsewhere, “no major country in history ended with a balanced budget. Fiscal restraint has never beenthereason a civilization declined and fell. On the other hand, history is littered with governments that fell in a flurry of spending.”
TheRoman Empire’s fall was hastened by hyperinflation. Inthe1930s,theGerman WeimerRepubliccollapsed amid runaway spending.After America won its independence,theindividual states engaged in a flurry of spending often withtheir own, inflated currencies, which ledtorising conflict amongthestates.Theresponse oftheFounders wastoconsolidate power in a more centralized federal government undertheConstitution designed, in part,tostabilizetheeconomy.
VideoToday,thefederal government is running deficits in excess of $2 trillion a year – despite claims ontheLeft thattheeconomy is going strong.Never before hastheU.S. continuedtospend at such levelsaftertherecoveryfroma crisis.
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Where once, under Thomas Jefferson’s government,spending was less than 3% oftheeconomy,today all levels of government are spending closeto35% oftheeconomy – financed in significant part bytheprinting trillions of dollars. Little wonder,therefore, inflation not only is debasing our currency but impoverishing millions.
The Consolidation of Power in the Federal Government
One lesson of history is that power consolidates over time – especially inthehands of politicians. Our Founders understood that and created “checks and balances” among three branches of government.They did not want a quick and efficient government.
They wanted powertorest mainly intheindividual states and wantedthemtobe intheincubators of policy.They “enumerated” federal government powers and established a 10thAmendment that stated: “Thepowers notdelegatedtotheUnited States bytheConstitution, nor prohibited by ittotheStates, are reservedtotheStates respectively, ortothepeople.”
VideoNevertheless, with spending comes power that has consolidated intheAmericangovernments and with each such consolidation,thepower of “thepeople” andtheir freedom diminishes.
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The Coming Together of Economic and Political Power
Forthevast majority of history, political and economic power resided inthesame persons or small group of persons.Monarchs and/or feudal lords ownedtheland (theeconomic riches oftheday) and exercised political power overtheir “subjects.”
With capitalism, new wealth, intheform of goods, services and money, separated economic and political power.In 1789, whentheU.S. Constitution was adopted,theeconomic power oftheday was dispersed widely amongthestates – far more than inthenation’s capital.That separated power madetheearlyrepublicsuccessful because those in political power had limited powers and could not dictatetothemillions ofAmericanliving far awayfromthecapital.
That is no longerthecase in America.Big Government has enormous power comparedtoits citizens.Big Government uses that powertomake deals with huge economic interests, including big corporations and unions.That process decides public policy, day-in and day-out, far more than every day voters – and with that, our freerepublicis diminished.
VideoThe Establishments’ Obsession with Keeping Power
Throughout all of history, those in power have wantedtokeep that power.King Herod became so obsessed withthepower he obtained through marriage that when he was convinced his royal wife was no longer true, he had her killed, members of her family killed and even his two sons by her.
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He was not alone in history.Monarchs, dukes and dictators regularly banishedtheir kin and rivals, or worse,toretain power.
In Americatoday, government is BY FARthelargest industry – more than doublethenext closest industry, health care, which, of course, is largely funded by the government. There is much moneytobe made in that big business – halftherichest counties in America surround Washington, D.C.
Beyond that,theAmerican”intelligence” services wield enormous and nearly unchecked power. Along withtheir other bureaucratic partners in government,they decide an enormous amount ofthepolicy in America.
VideoOf course,theAmericanpoliticians lovetheir power as well – turningtheAmericanrepublicfroma part-time government at its Foundingtoa full-time industrytoday.
When anyone suggests that swamp be drained,they threaten that power.Therefore, and as we have seen throughout history and now, those in power use almost any means attheir disposaltokeep that power – in direct contradictiontoGeorge Washingtonsurrendering his powertoCongress after winningtheAmerican Revolution.
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The Loss of Public Virtue
AccordingtoEdward Gibbon, in his”Decline and Fall oftheRoman Empire,” “public virtue…amongtheancients was denominated patriotism.”Susan Wise Bauer wrote in her work”TheHistory oftheAncient World” that Rome was lost in favor of “greed, corruption, pride, general decadence, and other fruits of prosperity.”TheRoman historian Livy wrote of his time”that we can neither endure our vices nor facetheremedies neededtocurethem.”
Americatoday, often spurred on by ambitious politicians, is caught up in political division and a class warfare reminiscent ofthefall of Rome and ancient Greek democracy.Too few view public service as a virtue – muchtotherisk oftherepublic.
VideoWhiletheabove may seem daunting,Americanis not lost.Asthegreat historian Arnold J.Toynbee wrote, “I do not believe that civilizations havetodie because civilization is not an organism. It is a product of wills.”
Throughout all of history, people and leaders have arisentomeetthechallenge.Humankind has repeatedly improved its lot, including progressingfromjust six democracies before World War IItoover hundred (in varying degrees)today.Governments have reversed course and shrunk, as in Argentinatoday.
Overall, truerepublics are no longer a question of a way, as it was in 1789.Instead, it is a question ofAmericanwill.
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Tom Del Beccaro is an author, speaker and columnist. His latest books are “The Lessons of the American Civilization” and “The Divided Era: How We Got Here and the Keys to America’s Reconciliation.”
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