Refueling the Fires of the Founding

       Early American settlers had a unique opportunity to create a different form of government. The kings of Europe were busy fighting one another, so the settlers were pretty much left to govern themselves for the first 200 years. They developed an appreciation for living independently, which led them to devise a government that protected those rights. They recognized that the most dangerous force in the world was government. They compared it to fire, necessary but a treacherous hazard. They had no confidence in man’s ability to resist the lure of power, so they designed a constitution that would, as Thomas Jefferson said, “bind him down from mischief.”
       Each branch of government was designed to check the power of the other, and the theory was that the sovereign states would jealously guard their powers as expressed in the 10th Amendment. Integral to the design were the differences in the houses of Congress. The House of Representatives was to reflect the passions of the people, members being elected by popular vote. The Senate was to be the more deliberative body, cooling the passions and providing stability. Members were appointed by legislative bodies of the various states and were to represent the interests of the state, keeping the power of the federal government in check.

       Electing senators by popular vote as a result of the 17th Amendment created two problems. First, the Senate loses its deliberative quality, the members now having to spend their energies responding to the passions of the masses, buying votes with our tax dollars. It also changed the allegiance of senators. They are no longer the voice of the state. They are the voice of the federal government. The power and significance of the Sovereign States is lost.

       We didn’t notice the danger at first. Montesquieu was right: “A nation may lose its liberties in a day and not miss them in a century.” It’s been a century. It’s time for us all to join the bucket brigade. Or better yet, fight fire with fire. Lovers of freedom must be vigilant, read, study, research, and debate analyzing history and current events according to the principles of liberty. We need to rekindle the fires that fueled the founding.