Legitimacy of government is not something we normally think about because it has been 225 years since the first inauguration of George Washington. That event signified the commencing of the Constitution. But what was it that made the new Constitutional government legitimate? Why a Constitution and not a monarch/king like the rest of the world? We have touched on this question in previous blogs but it is always good to review.
The Founders were true believers in natural law which says that all men are created equal. If we are all equal then no one is born superior to all the rest. Therefore, it is up to the people to form the government of their choice. This is exactly what happened with the Constitutional Convention. The states sent representatives to look out for their interests and the interests of the people to form a federal system that would correct the weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation. The people then had to give their consent to the final agreement or the Constitution. This was done at the state level.
The people knew that putting authority in the hands of a man would guarantee tyranny. Therefore, they opted for a system built on the rule of law as laid out in a Constitution that listed exactly what the federal government was to do. The consent of the people guarantees that the government would be limited in scope. When men rule over other men they tend to make laws at whim and show preferential treatment to the favored elite. But when the people are governed by a set list of laws that protect them from the government these laws do not change and all are treated equally under the law.
It is a legal contract similar to the contract God has with us regarding His promises. God says over and over in His word, “If you will … then I will …”. This implies that we have a responsibility to do something in order to activate the promise. Our Constitution lays out how the government is to work and what it can and cannot do. The Bill of Rights protects individual rights and makes it clear that the states have more power and authority than the federal government. This was the government the people agreed to and it required the people to do their part to keep their elected representatives accountable to them.
We can all agree that today government is far from limited. What happened? The people became complacent in keeping their part of the contract and quit watching closely what their elected representatives were doing. Maintaining freedom takes diligence, work and sacrifice. In the modern era we, as a society, are so distracted with jobs, family, sports, media etc. that we don’t even think about what our representatives are doing. And for some reason over the last fifty years we have adopted the idea that the role of the federal government is to take care of us. How can we even believe that government even cares about us? From the beginning of time it has been our responsibility to take care of ourselves and our families.
The power of the federal government today is not by consent of the governed. When government realizes it doesn’t need consent it grows. The worst thing Congress has allowed is the growth of federal agencies that implement the laws they have passed. The agencies then add a multitude of additional rules and regulations that were never intended in the original laws. Technically, since these people are unelected, they do not have the consent of the governed and what they implement at our expense is really illegitimate. There are so many rules and regulations that even Congress does not know what they are. Until, they come knocking at our doors with arrest warrants we are not even aware that we have committed a crime!
Next week: There is Hope for Change
Dinner Table Discussion Question: Discuss the importance of personal responsibility and how it affects society.