By Ryan Manning for The Liberty Block
As I think many fellow Americans can agree, the union finds itself in troubling territory, and the prospects for the future do not look good. It is a fact that the united states will not last forever as one union. John Adams said in 1814: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” In fact, no republic or democratic form of government has lasted longer than 482 years (Rome) with the average being 147 years. But there is hope still. We can sit back and list a million reasons the current situation is the fault of the opposing party, but that does us no good. We are here now, and we must deal with the cards we have been dealt or risk a union – nay a world – with little individual freedoms left.
The key to the united states, the intent behind its founding, was in fact the states. There was never any intent to have such a large bloated federal government that the states must yield such power or that the people rely so heavily on federal or federally-subsidized programs. The power should be decentralized and returned to the states. Citizens have no effective way of holding bureaucrats and politicians thousands of miles away in DC accountable for their actions. The founders knew this and insisted that governing (policing) powers stay at the state level and that the DC’s primary concern should be that of international relations and settling disputes among the states. It is much easier to hold your neighbors accountable for their decisions when policies are made locally. It is possible to drive to Concord and have our voice heard, but that is not feasible when our lords govern us from DC.
To truly understand the intent of the founding fathers, I would urge every member of our community to read the State of New Hampshire’s Constitution. It is a marvelous document; it is the first and oldest Constitution in the union. It was the first colony to declare independence and the first state to wage war with Britain (14 Dec 1774). The founders here knew what was at stake and their Constitution shows their intent.
The founders who wrote this Constitution would be mortified to find that we have a federal government with secret courts that authorize spying on citizens, a federal police force (FBI) with orders to monitor local political affairs/discontent (a matter for local police if violence erupts). Worst of all, we have seen the recent administration hand over power to activate the DC National Guard to the Capitol Police and the Secretary of Defense. There is a reason that the police and military did not have the authority to activate military units. This along with Presidents deciding to rule with executive actions is nothing more than a federal power grab to bring power into DC and hamstring the states through legislative and financial blackmail.
I have noticed what seems to be a troubling trend in national politics and it is that there seems to be this notion by bureaucrats that all states should be the same, uniform little territories serving a national agenda. This is a dangerous standard to propagate. The beauty and success of this union of states is that we are unique; every state is diverse and their legislatures work to serve the will of their unique people. When I was in the Army, I was fortunate enough to live abroad. While I was living overseas, I was asked “Where are you from?”
I answered with immense pride “New Hampshire”.
I was then asked, “Why do you do that”?
“Do what?”
“Why do Americans say what State they are from and never say they are from the united states”?
See, that is the beauty of it, we are diverse, and we celebrate that diversity. I am from New Hampshire, but I have family from various parts of the union. We all take pride in where we are from, and that makes us no less patriotic or American. The states and people have an agreement to band together in hard times to get our union through many struggles. It does not mean that we need a national or federal solution to our problems. On the contrary, when we start governing with broad and tyrannical centrally-planned policies, we forget the uniqueness that makes us who we are. We have seen vast amounts of consternation federal approaches have had at addressing the COVID pandemic.
Like many, I would like to prolong the existence of this union, this great experiment in self-governance. The only way, however, is to go back to how it was. We must return the primary governance of this union to the States. The DC politicians should not be deciding what the speed limit is in each state, nor should they be deciding what schools teach or any other matter that would affect the daily lives of our citizens. To put it simply, this is not DC’s role, it is a role they made for themselves. If we wish to last as a unified society, we cannot have a central government trampling on the individual liberties of all people in all 50 states. Accountability can only be achieved when we have the means to directly address our legislators and executives. This can truly only be done at the state level.
*A few minor edits were made by The Liberty Block’s editorial staff with the author’s permission prior to publishing
