The Right Stuff: The rise and fall of the republic: Part 1

By Earl Heal

The wisdom of America’s Founders is well recognized, but perhaps not fully appreciated.

No government had ever been a servant of its people, but that was their dream. No government had ever permitted subordinate levels of government (states) to have sovereign power, but that was their dream. Their study of autocracies, aristocracies, democracies, monarchies, oligarchies, republics and theocracies fed the Founders’ imaginations with concepts to employ and to avoid.

The Articles of Confederation, first drafted in 1771, proved inadequate, primarily by not providing the national government sufficient power. The original Congress authorized the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to revise the Articles, but some proponents intended to build a new frame of government based on evaluations of historic records of policies that produced governmental successes and failures. The Founders observed that human nature never changes and neither does the American Constitution, unless amended. Only 17 amendments (after the 10 Bill of Rights developed by the Founders) in 234 years validates the Founders’ wisdom. With regard to the size of government, George Washington is accredited with saying, “Government is not reason and not eloquence. It is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”[...read more]