A Republic Under Attack

"The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness." -- George Washington

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. These unalienable rights are guaranteed to us by God, and that to secure those rights, our founders instituted a government that derives its limited power from the consent of the governed.

Today we find the state has gotten far too big and is involved in too many areas where it has no business and that governments at all levels have thrown off the shackles of the law that were ratified to restrain it. 

As government expands, liberty contracts

President Ronald Reagan often spoke of the negative consequences of government expansion and we’ve highlighted the evils of government overreach and of mob rule.

When people think of government overreach, they often think of large headline-generating events such as the Louisville, KY, mayor banning drive-in Easter religious services, resulting in a federal injunction in which the judge wrote that criminalizing Easter was something “this court never expected to see outside the pages of of a dystopian novel, or perhaps the pages of The Onion.”

While not all cases are this big, the small cases are perhaps more important precisely because we never hear of them. From states claiming stores are selling milk too cheap (Louisiana) or the feds trying to take a family-owned motel because of 14 drug arrests of guests over 15 years (Massachusetts), the lives, reputations and fortunes of those targeted by the mailed fist of government are forever affected.

The attack comes from all sides

But the attack against the Republic isn’t limited to government action. Universities are teaching  anti-capitalism and students are more likely to embrace socialism than previous generations. The media and entertainment industry demonize once common values of decency, resulting in a Texas grand jury indicted Netflix for promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child.

It’s easy to identify what’s wrong with society. It’s more difficult to identify root causes of the issues. It’s even more difficult to actually effect change; slacktivism may give you a warm feeling, but accomplishes nothing. It’s the individual equivalent of Congress passing an ineffectual law so they can say they “did something.” 

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and real change requires real effort. But for change to happen, you have to identify what you want changed. And while we have highlighted above some of the issues facing our Republic, it is certainly not a comprehensive list. So your first step is to identify what you want to see changed, and take action from there.

Next week, we’ll outline some concrete steps you can take to help save the Republic.

Because the Republic won’t save itself.