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TO A FRIEND
"Constitutional Crisis"
Destroying America
August 25, 2005
By Gordon Bishop
One of the rewards of being a media columnist (or 'blogger' on the Internet) is the email you receive from anywhere in the world where computers are available, which is almost everywhere today.
My latest column on "United States Constitution Is Dead" received a lot of email, mostly supporting my position.
One lengthy email came from my old colleague, Michael Redmond, at the Newark The Star-Ledger (Newhouse Newspapers). Mike was The Ledger's music critic (I was an investigative reporter and columnist for 27 years).
Here's what Mike, an independent-thinking "conservative," has to say about America's endangered Constitution:
Dear Gordon : There's an ancient Latin saying, "Dum spiro spero": While I’m still breathing, I'm still hoping.
The American Constitution is not dead, my old friend, but this Republic has definitely entered into a crisis the like of which it has faced no more than three or four times before in more than 200 years of (American) history.
I give you credit for recognizing that this crisis exists, although, myself, I'm confident that America will find a way through it. It always has before.
But, yes, the situation is dangerous, and brave Americans must stand up and be counted, as was ever true. No news there, Gordon. In every generation, if we lack people who will pledge their "lives, fortune and sacred honor," then America will fail.
The greatest danger to the Constitution today is the out-of-balance reality of the three coequal branches of American government.
The executive branch, the presidency, has grown excessively powerful (FDR and ever since); in fact, if things get worse, this country could be looking at a dictatorship ushered in by supposedly constitutional means as a reaction to the Islam-fascist threat.
The judicial branch, the Supreme Court, is just about totally out of control. The Supremes now think of themselves as a standing constitutional convention. The American right began screaming about this when the Left was ascendant on the court. Now that the right is ascendant, they've shut up, eager to abuse the same power that the court usurped way back in the day in order now to advance the rightist agenda.
It is neither an accident nor a coincidence that Article 1 of the Constitution establishes the legislative branch, the bicameral Congress, as the foundation of the American Republic. Our democracy, such as it is, exists fundamentally in the Congress of many persons, not in the presidency (one person) or the court (nine persons). To the extent that the Congress is weak, the Republic is weak, and the populace is frustrated.
The plain fact is that the excessive power that the presidency and judicial have accrued is at the expense of the Congress, and therefore at the expense of the American people.
And how has the Congress been laid low? By the two-party system, that’s how. A system dominated by money, by insider deals, by lies and slander, by self-interest.
Please prove to me that either the Democratic or the Republican leadership really gives a damn about this country and its future. The parties are concerned exclusively about self-preservation and the achievement of power. Both parties find unity in one issue only: That no third party may arise to challenge their hegemony. A pox on both houses, I say.
What is to be done? We must identify and support men and women who will go to the Congress to vote their principles and conscience. Just as it was in the old days. Men and women who will not bow to presidential arrogance and judicial imperialism, but bring the president up short on the question of war powers and adopt legislation that will set clear and present limits to judicial intervention. If we cannot do this, then you're right, Gordon: It's time to kiss off the Constitution of 1789. But I tell you that there's still time.
How do we proceed? By recognizing that the No. 1 issue in American politics is campaign finance reform. The unholy alliance of the parties and corporate interests must be broken, once and for all. We need new people, new blood, new ideas, new boldness, in the pursuit of the national interest, of a reinvigorated America, of a new birth of freedom. That's what is at stake, finally. No less than the future of this nation as a genuine democracy*.
So, Gordon, are ready to join the revolution? Please remember that no eagle can fly with one wing. The American eagle can fly only with a strong left wing and a strong right wing.
I say: Let's roll.
(Note: Great analysis, Mike, but one comment: America was not founded as a "democracy." It was founded as a Constructional Republic. "Democracy" is not mentioned in the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or the 1776 Declaration of Independence.) GB )
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