Man Made???

History should have taught us one thing, if nothing else, about governments.  They are all man-made!

So whence cometh the idea that they should be all powerful or be able to dictate to you, a citizen, what you can do, what you will be paid, where you shall work, for whom, how long, your health care etc., etc.? Here again, history has taught us, or should have, that it is power that begets authority and it is power that seeks control and becomes corrupt.

The Founding Fathers who created the Constitution must have understood all of that plus a great deal more about human nature and man’s lust for power.  Otherwise, why would they have worked so hard to establish a government with defined limits of authority and power?  The importance of freedom was never very far from their thinking.  Understanding that despite how hard they might try, they would never be able to create a document that would prevent the usurpation of power by those individuals who, whether intentionally or unintentionally, desire to control others and bend or distort the agreed-upon limitations to their own desires or benefit.

Instead of understanding and agreeing to abide by the rules of the game as detailed in the Constitution, we have seen even, in our nation’s short history, an unbelievable twisting, interpolation of ideas or outright violation of the restraints stipulated.  Businesses have sought government intervention to protect them from competitors or to achieve a preferential position to receive contracts or regulations targeted toward their interests.

We’ve seen the growth of lobbying to the point where it has become a billion dollar profession of its own.   What are the benefits for the average citizen?  It would be difficult if not impossible to define.  Yet, those who practice the profession exert great influence on the direction of the country as well as the regulation of commerce and industry.

The most distinguishing feature of the American founding was that it recognized a “higher authority” than man!  In the opening paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson penned the words, “ . . . to assume . . . equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them . . .” Those few words established for what followed that the Founders would be responsible for their acts and commitments to more than just other human beings.

It is doubtful that man could create a universe, let alone one that functions in equilibrium.  The riddle of the universe remains unsolved and perhaps never will be.  What is important, however, is that we recognize that man is imperfect and that the governments he/she creates will suffer from the same inability to achieve perfection.  The Founders knew this as Ben Franklin expressed when commenting on the Constitution,  “Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best.”

We have over 200 years of operation under the Constitution.  While we adhered to its dictums, for the most part, during our 1^st 100 years, there is no question but what from 1900 on we have been trending away from our foundation.  Government has become unbridled, a riderless horse.  Anything goes and we have lost our understanding of why the Founders thought there was a higher authority than their man-made constitution.  That’s my view.  What’s yours?  Reach me at constitutionviews@gmail.com  © Copyright 2015  Hillard W. Welch