“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Declaration of Independence
When Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980, one of his stated goals was to reduce the size of government by shrinking the scope and power of regulatory agencies. Three years later, the Supreme Court derailed this effort deciding that the nation’s chief executive could not undo the work of the multitude of these agencies.
The Court was effectively saying that elections don’t matter, nor did the will of the overwhelming majority of citizens hoping to rein in the bastard children of Congress—our de facto legislators of expertise running these agencies. The Progressive model of government by the experts had real armor at last.
This decision was the death knell of the constitutional republic for which Americans died to give birth to and keep free. We have just been too busy with personal comfort and security to stand up and resist it.
Jefferson said that no one is born with a saddle on their back and no one is born booted and spurred to ride them. We must consent to be ridden or cease to call ourselves free.
Consent of the governed is gone in America, we are being ridden like so many voiceless animals. We have handed consent to our betters, the government experts. I wonder, how’s that working for you? Not so well, here. I’m as guilty as anyone of this spraying of spittle upon the graves of our forefathers.
The model of government by the consent of the experts was conceived in naïve and dedicated that the common people and those they elect are not smart enough to decide the course of their own lives and that of their country.
Maybe they are right. But I believe the real cause is not lack of intelligence, but will. No one wants to stand out. That’s why we make fun of that person who asks to see the manager to complain. And that’s why service and business models today are indifferent to the desires of their customers.
It’s not that today’s young people entering the job market are dumb, it’s that their employers no longer find intelligence, initiative, and excellence necessary. With most of the competition eliminated by the threat of a virus—they don’t have to be concerned with service—the masses should feel privileged they are allowed to shop at all. The point of that diatribe against business is only to point out how far gone we truly are as a nation.
We are no longer in charge—and we don’t care. Jeremiah the prophet was despised so much because his words exposed the corruption of his leaders, political and spiritual. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?
Maranatha
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