{"id":7851,"date":"2014-09-11T07:14:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T14:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=7851"},"modified":"2014-09-11T07:14:26","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T14:14:26","slug":"to-hell-with-the-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/to-hell-with-the-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018To Hell With the Constitution!\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo via www.newrepublic.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1902 Theodore Roosevelt intervened in a strike by Pennsylvania coal miners, exceeding his Constitutional authority as president. When this was pointed out to him by Republican House whip James E. Watson, Roosevelt allegedly yelled, \u201cTo hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!\u201d<\/p>\n

This outburst reflected the novel Progressive view of the Chief Executive. Instead of the Constitution\u2019s limited powers focused on specific needs, such as national defense, beyond the capacity of the individual states or local governments to address, the President needed more expansive authority in order to serve the \u201cpeople.\u201d Over 100 years later, Barack Obama has governed on the same assumption, one that undermines the Constitution\u2019s structure of balanced powers and limited government, and puts at risk our political freedom and autonomy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In January of this year Obama famously asserted, much less honestly than did T.R., his willingness to shed Constitutional limits: \u201cWe\u2019re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we\u2019re providing Americans the kind of help they need. I\u2019ve got a pen and I\u2019ve got phone.\u201d And he\u2019s been true to his belief during his nearly six years in office. He has changed his own signature legislation, Obamacare, 42 times. He has also used his \u201cpen and phone\u201d to change immigration laws, gun laws, labor laws, environmental policy, and many other statutes that should be the purview of the legislative branch, to which the Constitution gives the law-making power.<\/p>\n

Other presidents, of course, have used signing statements and executive orders. But Obama has pushed this traditional prerogative far beyond the bounds that presidents in the past were usually careful to respect. But the ideas behind this expansion of power are not peculiar to Obama, and transcend any one man. They come from the Progressive worldview that rejects the Constitution\u2019s philosophical vision of humans as driven by conflicting \u201cpassions and interests,\u201d and eager to amass power in order to gratify both. The Progressives, on the contrary, believe that human nature can be improved, and that technocrats armed with new knowledge of human behavior and motivations can be entrusted with the concentrated power necessary for managing that improvement and solving the new problems created by industrialism, technology, and the other novelties of modernity.<\/p>\n

In terms of the federal government, the key to this new vision is the executive branch, led by an activist president. Woodrow Wilson was quite explicit about these ideas. In 1890 he wrote of the need for a \u201cleader of men\u201d who has \u201csuch sympathetic and penetrative insight as shall enable him to discern quite unerringly the motives which move other men in the mass<\/i>.\u201d He knows \u201cwhat it is that lies waiting to be stirred in the minds and purposes of groups and masses of men.\u201d This sympathy is one \u201cwhose power is to command, to command by knowing its instrument,\u201d and the leader possessing this \u201csympathy\u201d cares only \u201cfor the external uses to which they [people] may be put.\u201d<\/p>\n

More frightening still are Wilson\u2019s comments further expanding on this \u201csympathy.\u201d \u201cWhoever would effect a change in a modern constitutional government must first educate his fellow-citizens to want<\/i> some change. That done, he must persuade them to want the particular change he wants. He must first make public opinion willing to listen and then see to it that it listens to the right things. He must stir it up to search for an opinion, and then manage to put the right opinion in its way.\u201d Gone are the notions that free people decide their own political fate and choose representatives to serve their interests and principles, their autonomy protected by the Constitutional structure of checks and balances. Now an empowered elite presumably wiser about human nature will, like Plato\u2019s Guardians, manipulate the people\u2019s opinions so that they make the \u201cright\u201d choice. These ideas are on a continuum that at the extreme end lie Mussolini\u2019s fascism and Lenin\u2019s communism.<\/p>\n

The president, then, must transcend the Constitution\u2019s outmoded limits on government power. In 1908, for example, Wilson complained that the president was merely a \u201clegal executive\u201d and \u201cguiding authority in the application of the law and the execution of policy,\u201d which is the Constitution\u2019s charge that the president \u201cshall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.\u201d For Wilson, this was too limited an authority, for the president could only veto bad laws, and was not \u201cgiven an opportunity to make good ones.\u201d And explicitly rejecting the Constitution\u2019s vision of clashing \u201cfactions\u201d driven by conflicting \u201cpassions and interests,\u201d Wilson writes, \u201cYou cannot compound a successful government out of antagonisms.\u201d So much for Madison\u2019s governing principle in Federalist <\/i>51 that \u201cambition must be made to counteract ambition.\u201d The Progressive collectivist \u201cpeople\u201d possessing uniform interests must have a \u201cPresident as the unifying force in our complex system.\u201d<\/p>\n

We see in Wilson\u2019s writings another Progressive assumption still with us today: defining Americans as an abstract, collectivist \u201cpeople.\u201d This unitary \u201cpeople\u201d rejects the Founders\u2019 recognition of America\u2019s great variety of economic interests, passions such as religion, and regional folkways that characterize the citizens of the United States. Indeed, it is just this variety that threatened political freedom, for a flawed human nature is intoxicated by power, and always seeks more power in order to gratify its peculiar needs and interests by forming \u201cfactions\u201d of the like-minded. As John Adams wrote in 1787, the \u201cselfish passions in the generality of men\u201d are the \u201cstrongest.\u201d Knowing that this selfish inclination is rooted in a human nature unchanged since the days of Athens, and so cannot be improved or eliminated, the Founders sought merely to balance faction against faction so that no one faction can amass enough power to threaten the freedom of all.<\/p>\n

The proponents of centralized power, however, require a more homogeneous \u201cpeople\u201d to justify expanding government power. Such a \u201cpeople\u201d will have similar interests that only the central government can effectively identify and serve. Interests like \u201csocial justice,\u201d \u201csocial duties,\u201d and \u201csocial efficiency,\u201d cannot be fulfilled by local or state governments, or by the parochial aims of civil society or the market, or by churches divided by sectarian beliefs. The federal technocrats of government agencies, more knowledgeable than the people about what they really want and need, must be given the power to trump those clashing local interests and manage polices that serve the larger \u201csocial\u201d good\u2013\u2013as defined not by the people in all their variety and complexity, but by federal bureaucrats and technocrats.<\/p>\n

Go back to Obama\u2019s \u201cpen and phone\u201d statement and read what follows to see this same collectivist vision at work: \u201cAnd I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward in helping to make sure our kids are getting the best education possible, making sure that our businesses are getting the kind of support and help they need to grow and advance, to make sure that people are getting the skills that they need to get those jobs that our businesses are creating.\u201d The president assumes that in a country of some 330 million people, \u201cthe help they need\u201d and their views on improving job creation, education, or job training are all the same, and thus one man can formulate policies that advance them, cutting out the several hundred representative of Congress, and state and local governments.<\/p>\n

The obvious danger is one evident from the 20th<\/sup> century\u2019s history of totalitarianism from the Bolsheviks to the Khmer Rouge. Elites convinced of their superior knowledge and insight into human behavior and the proper aims people should pursue, demand the coercive power to achieve these goods. But true to the Founders\u2019 vision of a flawed human nature, power is \u201cof an encroaching nature,\u201d as Madison and Washington both warned. It intoxicates and corrupts those who possess it. Moreover, it requires weakening the autonomy and freedom of the people, whose various interests will contradict the \u201cvision of the anointed,\u201d as Thomas Sowell dubs them, who claim to know what\u2019s best for everybody, and use their power to neutralize or eliminate those who resist this superior wisdom.<\/p>\n

We need to recognize that for over a century this Progressive vision has revolutionized the federal government, which now has a size, scope, cost, and coercive power that would have horrified the Founders. The ideas underlying this vision\u2013\u2013for example, the notion that the federal government and its agencies are better able to \u201csolve problems\u201d than are local and state governments, or civil society\u2013\u2013are taken for granted as self-evident even by many Republicans. Thus focusing on the spectacular incompetence of Barack Obama can blind us to the dangers that will continue after he has left office. Obama vowed to \u201cfundamentally transform America,\u201d but that transformation had started long before he became president.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 FrontPage Magazine. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 In 1902 Theodore Roosevelt intervened in a strike by Pennsylvania coal miners, exceeding his Constitutional authority as president. When this was pointed out to him by Republican House whip James E. Watson, Roosevelt allegedly yelled, \u201cTo hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!\u201d This outburst reflected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[842,22,99,46],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-22D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6636,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/barack-obama-and-the-bad-ideas-of-progressivism\/","url_meta":{"origin":7851,"position":0},"title":"Barack Obama and the Bad Ideas of Progressivism","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 Barack Obama\u2019s serial gross incompetence has elicited all sorts of explanatory theories. He\u2019s a closet socialist, an Alinskyite radical, a secret Muslim, or an anti-American internationalist. Though some of Obama\u2019s words and deeds give support to all these speculations, I prefer a simpler explanation.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4078,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/on-reminding-the-politicians-whos-the-boss\/","url_meta":{"origin":7851,"position":1},"title":"On Reminding the Politicians Who’s the Boss","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton RightNetwork.com The Democrats and their tribunes in the mainstream media weren\u2019t too happy about the House of Representatives reading aloud the Constitution. The\u00a0New York Times\u00a0called it a \u201cpresumptuous and self-righteous act,\u201d while New York Representative Jerrold Nadler dubbed the reading a \u201ctotal nonsense\u201d and \u201cpropaganda.\u201d In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6544,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/what-would-the-founders-think-of-defunding-obamacare\/","url_meta":{"origin":7851,"position":2},"title":"What Would the Founders Think of Defunding Obamacare?","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 A few days ago CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin, speaking about the Republican House bill defunding Obamacare, commented, \u201cCertainly not the way the Founding Fathers maybe drew this thing up.\u201d\u00a0It\u2019s certainly a surprise to hear an anchor on CNN, an organization biased in favor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6721,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-political-debate-we-need-to-have\/","url_meta":{"origin":7851,"position":3},"title":"The Political Debate We Need to Have","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, we treat politics as a sport, but it's really a conflict of ideologies between federalists and technocrats. by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0Defining Ideas\u00a0 The media and pundits treat politics like a sport. The significance of the recent agreement to postpone the debt crisis until January, for instance, is really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6966,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/executive-tyranny-the-problems-bigger-than-obama\/","url_meta":{"origin":7851,"position":4},"title":"Executive Tyranny: The Problem’s Bigger Than Obama","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 Barack Obama is threatening to bypass Congress and use executive orders to achieve the policy changes he can\u2019t get through legislation. \u201cWe are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we\u2019re providing Americans the kind of help\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7629,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-progressive-assault-on-the-legacy-of-independence-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":7851,"position":5},"title":"The Progressive Assault on the Legacy of Independence Day","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine Independence Day is a good time to revisit the foundations of our political order, especially given the long record of Barack Obama and the Democrats\u2019 disregard for the Constitution. The members of the Continental Congress who met in Philadelphia in July 1776 sought their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Contributors"","block_context":{"text":"Our Contributors","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7851"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7853,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7851\/revisions\/7853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}