The Genius of the Founding Fathers
Their most important idea is one we now must embrace for the next four years
Everyone always talks about the “genius of the Founding Fathers” in discussions about our form of government. But we do not often specify exactly which element of the system was the “genius” part. The fact is, many of the elements were drawn from other systems in existence or that had been used in the past. The genius was not in the specifics. It was not freedom of speech, or all men created equally, or a bicameral legislature, or even voting. No, the genius was in the PREMISE that every detail was designed to deal with. That premise was that anyone who gained power would eventually seek to grow, consolidate, and retain that power for as long as they possibly could. The Founders assumed every leader would eventually try to become a dictator. So the genius of the Founding Fathers was to recognize that universal truth which applied to all rulers, and to attempt to design a system that would try to thwart that tendency in any and every way possible.
Because they believed any ruler would try to consolidate power, every detail of the government they set up was designed as a way to prevent an aspiring authoritarian from doing so. This means they did not guarantee free speech so you could say dumb shit on the internet or express your misinformed opinions to your buddies at the bar, but rather so the ruler could not prevent you from expressing your opinions if they did not like them.
They did not insure freedom of the press because they liked to read the daily paper, but because they knew the press is something that can keep an authoritarian in line and that destroying the free press is the first thing any dictator will try to accomplish as a means to consolidate power.
They did not provide all Americans the right to know any crimes they have been accused of and the ability to defend themselves from being thrown in jail without legal recourse because they wanted to be soft on crime, they did it so a ruler could not jail his enemies on his whim without due process of the law.
Every one of the first ten amendments in the Bill of Rights was a reaction to something a despotic King or wannabe emperor had done at some point in the past. If a historic ruler had attempted to implement a measure to help him become more powerful, the Founding Fathers tried to add a restriction on that act to our Constitution to prevent our future leaders from doing it too.
The way that the government was set up was also based on this premise. The checks and balances between the three branches of government was specifically designed so each branch could stand in the way of the others and prevent them from gaining too much power. Separation of Powers was predicated on the same premise as the rest of the system, the assumption that just as the executive would seek to grow and consolidate his power, the rulers in the legislative branch would also seek to grow and consolidate their power, while the rulers in the judicial branch would seek to do the same with their powers. Each branch was designed to check the other two and be checked as well.
The tools the Founders gave each branch included the most basic setup of the legislative branch making the laws, the executive enforcing the laws, and the judicial interpreting the laws. Other powers they provided to stand up to or stop another branch could be found in impeachment, the veto, overriding a veto, declaring laws unconstitutional, the appointment and approval of judges, and the confirmation of executive branch choices for influential positions in government. They were given power over each other so when the inevitable happened, and some leader tried to make themselves into an authoritarian, the other branches could stand in their way and prevent it from happening.
Basically the Founding Fathers tried to game out every possible way a corrupt leader could take full power over the country and find ways to block that from happening. This has caused our country to lurch clunkily along in many cases, and has slowed progress and dragged out problems at times, but it has also succeeded up until now at preventing a wannabe dictator from gaining power over the country.
As that long-feared wannabe dictator prepares to begin his second term as president, the people in the country, and more importantly any leaders that claim to love this country, need to approach him with the same mindset of the Founding Fathers. That means any leader who claims to want to protect and preserve the Constitution needs to be using the tools they were given to block his schemes, exercising their own power to protect our system of government, and not deluding themselves about who he is and what he will try to do. It means every single patriotic American, from politicians to pundits to everyday Americans, need to operate on the same premise the Founding Fathers operated on, the assumption that he will try to do anything he can to consolidate and retain full and permanent power over everything in the country, and we need to act accordingly.