David Danford:
We are three weeks into Donald Trump’s presidency, and there are already “yuuuge” things happening. This is not to say that President Trump is doing huge things. It is the reaction to him that is so impressive. It displays the scope of the fight required to restore the Constitution.
While Trump’s policy prescriptions are controversial to the side that just lost the election, he is doing what people elected him to do as the chief executive officer and obeying the Constitution. None of this matters to Trump’s opponents. If they cannot win elections, they will use any power they can to stop him, no matter the cost.
Courts’ rulings against the immigration executive order are an example of this. So is the recent “political assassination” of Mike Flynn. The former was an unfortunate tactic we have seen before and could have predicted. The latter is something new. Both of these events show us what is at stake in our republic and the course of the fight that is ahead of us.
We Don’t Understand the Constitution Any More
The courts have been leading a coup against the Constitution for quite a while, although it has come in small doses over a long time. The rise of the Deep State to take out political opponents elected by the people is more dramatic and even more dangerous. While neither judges nor intelligence bureaucrats are elected, Congress can at least constrain the courts under the Constitution, the courts operate in the light of day, and individual rulings only have as much teeth as the Congress and the executive allow.
Intelligence bureaucrats have real teeth, however, and they can do serious damage to citizens and political opponents behind the scenes and before anyone notices. Despite this, members of Congress and legal activists argue that the president needs to go along to get along. He needs to work with the courts an avoid confronting the intelligence agencies, lest they fight back. Our modern sensibilities say government should be run like a business and the president should not use a “go-it-alone strategy for fast-tracking his agenda.”
But the president need not grovel before the courts nor work with Congress to do what the law already prescribes for him to do. Trump is not running into our nation’s systems of checks and balances. He is running into our nation’s current and unconstitutional understanding of government. As political scientist John Marini makes clear, “America has a problem, not because of our Constitution but because constitutionalism as a theoretical doctrine is no longer meaningful in our politics.”
Too many people understand our government to be made of “co-equal branches” that are “separate but equal.” But our branches of government are not co-equal, because they are not equal. Ironically, it was an overactive court that once pointed out that separate means “inherently unequal.” Granted, each branch has “a will of its own” and shares a “common commission” from the people so no one branch is over the others, but the branches have different and unequal powers that make them more or less dangerous to the people and the Constitution.
This confusion about the separation of powers comes from our progressive sensibilities. We separate powers to promote limited government and avoid tyranny. Progressives, however, do not seek limited government, and they have long held that the separation of powers is an outdated concept that hinders the government required for the modern age. This progressive understanding is destroying our republic.
Conservatives Need to Figure Out What’s Going On
The progressive notion of a “living Constitution” has made self-government very challenging for individuals for decades. Now we are seeing what some argued months ago: the very notion of republican government and our ability to choose who governs us may be lost. Those who call themselves “conservatives,” especially “constitutional conservatives,” need to wake up to this reality.
Admittedly, Trump is not the champion of the Constitution many of us would have liked. He does not talk about the Constitution much. Like Reagan, he only invokes the Constitution when it suits his purposes. Even so, he seems to be restoring it without saying the word constitution. Perhaps we need less talk about the Constitution and more action to restore it.
It may be hard for conservatives that believe Trump is nothing but a con-man or a blundering buffoon. As to the former, Trump actually appears to be as he says he is, a man of his word. To the latter, I don’t know how anyone could argue it after he has won so much. But even if one must believe Trump is stupid, he has chosen to fight alongside those who are clearly not and who have a deep thoughts about politics.
If this does not convince you, as a thought experiment try assuming President Trump is a serious, intentional, and disciplined man who understands what is going on. Plenty of people assume the opposite, so it cannot hurt. Constitutional conservatives need to understand there are three essential political fights required to restore the Constitution.
Dismantling the Administrative State
The first and most urgent political fight to restore the Constitution is the fight against the bureaucrats of the administrative state. Trump has inspired a growing “resistance” inside of the executive branch that is a threat to the Constitution. Call them “career civil servants” if you want, but bureaucrats are really progressives who despise the Constitution. They are schooled in and professionally raised in progressivism to work within a structure built by progressivism.
Trump will be needing hurcules to help out in cleaning up the mess Obama left behind
Nor is this confined to our National Security Agencies
Obama Appointees Preventing Mattis From Rebuilding The Military, Says Armed Services Chair
Trump’s New EPA Secretary Has Been Confirmed — And Employees are Vowing Acts of Defiance
These malcontent EPA politically aligned workers forget one problem they haven’t considered. While Scott Pruitt may not be able to fire them, President Trump can both fire them, or if need be, close down the department.
Yet, even some Democrats are not supportive of former President Obama’s decision to become an unelected “Activist-In-Cheif”
Leaked Emails: Dem State Leaders Think Obama’s New Organizing Army is ‘Grade A Bullshit’
This never ending crybaby anti-Trump activism, is getting old and annoying very quickly, and I think it is hurting the Democratic party far more that it is helping.