Episode 127 Show Notes- The Fear of an All-Powerful Repressive Government
↓ Listen to The P.A.S. Report Podcast on any of these platforms and more! ↓
Episode Description
Now more than ever, many need a refresher on American government and the American Political Philosophy, particularly our elected officials. Our founding fathers warned us about granting the government more and more power. These giants amongst men understood that the more power government has, the more repressive government becomes. It’s the reason they chose the Articles of Confederation, and when the Articles collapsed, they decided on the concept of federalism, where numerous safeguards would be implemented to protect both the government and the people. However, what happens when these safeguards begin to fail?
Don’t forget to share this episode of The P.A.S. Report with family and friends, and on all your social media channels.
P.A.S. Report Listeners Get 10% Off at Design It Yourself Gift Baskets! Use Code: PAS
*PA Strategies, LLC. earns a small commission when you make a purchase through any affiliate links on this website and within this post.
Intro
Welcome everyone to the Thanksgiving episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast.
2020 has been a strange year, and that’s putting it mildly. When we look at everything that has taken place throughout the year, it’s been pretty bad. There’s no sugarcoating it. It seems like everything is falling apart. Like we’re losing control. We are now more divided than ever.
However, I think there is one thing we can all agree on regardless of political ideology. I think we can all agree that we can’t wait until 2020 ends. See, leave it to me to find a way to bridge the partisan ideological divisions.
In all seriousness, it has been a challenging year on a variety of levels for all of us. And given that we are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I thought it would be fitting to give a brief refresher on American Government.
Our founding fathers warned about an all-powerful government. The founders were giants amongst men, and these giants understood well that the more power government is granted, the more repressive government becomes.
This is why the founders decided on federalism as our form of government after the collapse of the Articles of Confederation. They decided they would create a complex form of government, with safeguards built-in throughout the system, in order to protect both the government and the people.
Before I get started, make sure you go to The P.A.S. Report website, sign up for the newsletter and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.
How Did We Get Here?
I spent the last few days to try and figure out what’s going on. What happened? How did we end up where we are today?
It seems many have forgotten our origins. We have forgotten what this country stands for. We have forgotten the core concepts of liberty and freedom enshrined within the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
Our elected officials have also forgotten these core concepts as they inflict ever-increasing rules and decrees, tremendously increasing government power and the all-powerful bureaucracy.
It seems today’s politicians have little regard for the idea of ‘We the People’. They look at the Constitution as an inconvenience that hampers their ability to do what they believe is in our best interests.
The vast amount of power the government has accumulated since March is frightening. Even more frightening is how so many ordinary people could care less. In fact, they encourage the government to usurp more and more authority. They constantly look to government as if it is this competent entity that could prevent and solve problems. That the government will fix things and improve life.
That people are willing to give up so much for the illusion of safety and security because let’s be honest, that’s exactly what it is. It’s an illusion. Many out there think that as long as government is doing something, we are safer and more secure.
Take Congress as an example. People despise Congress. If you look at the approval/disapproval ratings of Congress, they have abysmal. Using Gallup’s survey that dates back to 1975, I looked at Congressional approval rating in 15-year blocks. From 1975-1990, Congressional approval rating averaged 32% and disapproval was at about 50%. From 1991-2004, the approval rating averaged 43%, and the disapproval was at 48%. From 2005-present day, the Congressional approval rating averages an abysmal 21%, and those that disapprove of the job Congress is doing is at a whopping 74%. (Gallup)
That’s a dramatic drop in approval rating and a skyrocketing disapproval rating so what gives? Well, it turns out the number one reason given for dissatisfaction of Congress is that they don’t do anything. By not doing anything, people mean passing laws to solve problems. But why is that such a bad thing?
The reality is Congress never solves problems. Just think about it. 40-50 years ago, we were debating things like education, healthcare, immigration, infrastructure, and look at us 50 years later. We are still debating the same issues. It’s not like Congress hasn’t passed a whole slew of laws in regard to these issues. They have, and the problems persist so why would we want them to continue to pass laws?
And understand what a law is designed to do. A law is designed to restrict human behavior. By its very design, every law that’s passed takes some liberty away from the people and empowers government. Now I am not saying Congress shouldn’t pass any laws. Some laws are necessary. I would love to hear Congress start to debate real issues like the power of the big tech giants or how automation is going to transform the job market, but they don’t tackle the issues they should actually be getting involved in.
My point is we freely give up power to the government when we encourage Congress to churn out law after law after law.
Remember, our founding fathers wanted Congress to debate the issues, and only when they exhausted the debate, only when the measured all the benefits and drawbacks of a proposed law, only when a compromise would be reached, would a law be passed.
In fact, at the beginning of Jefferson’s administration, he wrote a letter to Thomas Cooper Washington stating that government should not be involved in every little thing. He wrote, “The path we have to pursue is so quiet that we have nothing scarcely to propose to our Legislature. A noiseless course not meddling with the affairs of others, unattractive of notice, is a mark that society is going on in happiness.”
Yet today, we expect too much from government and invite the government to usurp ever-increasing authority over us. Once again, Jefferson understood that as our society progresses, demands on government will only grow, and “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”
Fears of the Founding Fathers
The founders understood that free societies carry risk. Too much liberty and you have anarchy and chaos. Too much order and you have suppression, abuse, and a police state.
They understood that governments can be weaponized. That people will use government as a vehicle to acquire power for ideological purposes. They also understood that democracy comes with risk as well.
Democracies are susceptible to mob rule, where the demands of the mob force politicians to bow to the mob even when the mob is wrong. Even when what’s in the mob’s interest may not be in the best interests of the nation.
They also feared democracy because governments would assume more and more power, and as they continue to grow, this cycle only increases. They feared all democracies end in tyranny, and that’s why they decided on a Republic rather than a pure democracy.
Our founding fathers feared a central government with the totality of governing authority. It’s why our first form of government was through the Articles of Confederation.
Now the Articles of Confederation created a central government that was too weak and ultimately collapsed.
Federalism
At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the framers would create a new system called federalism. It would strengthen the central government, maintain strong states, and at the same time, safeguards would be built into the system.
These safeguards would ultimately serve as a balance for liberty and order. The balance between the power of the people and the power of the government.
These safeguards would keep the country in line with the 3 Principles of Old Republicanism. Our founding fathers understood that people were naturally flawed, and since we create the government, the government will be naturally flawed. They also believed that liberty would be best protected in the states which I am going to get into in a little bit. Finally, they believed that the government that governs the best governs the least.
By making the system slow, awkward, inefficient, and complex, and by instituting a series of checks and balances with clear separation of powers, conflict is institutionalized. This creates a buffer meant to protect the people.
Remember, the government is not the answer to our problems. It’s not the solution or remedy to all the issues we face.
The founders understood that government was a necessary evil, and this is no better illustrated than what Madison wrote in Federalist 51.
“It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices [checks and balances] should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” (Federalist 51)
The most important part of what Madison wrote is that the dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government.
What happens when the people are the ones encouraging the government to abuse power, and that’s exactly where we are today. This was not lost on the founding fathers and they understood. They understood the imperfections. Madison even warned about the defects in Federalist 10 where he argued that factions can destroy societies.
John Adams understood that history is replete with examples of how societies are destroyed from within. And since people are a reflection of government, they can be just as “unjust, tyrannical, brutal, barbarous and cruel as any king or senate.” (John Adams)
Once again, our founding fathers were suspicious of power, and those who held it. They understood that power corrupts and as Sir john Dalberg-Acton best stated, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Safeguards May be Breaking
This brings us to where we are today. Where the safeguards are starting to buckle after years and years of increasing power and authority within government. Today, we are witnessing direct threats to the Republic, our Constitution, and the system of checks and balances.
Remember when I brought up the 3 principles of Old Republicanism, and I got to the second principle that states liberty is best protected in the small state. I said I would bring that up later, and here we are.
This Principle is extremely important. The founding fathers believed that by giving the state power, the power will be abused less because people are closer to the government in a state, and it’s much easier to overthrow a state government than a central government.
I’m not sure that the founding fathers would have foreseen a time where state governments would completely disregard the Constitution, throwing away the checks and balances, as well as violating the separation of powers, and essentially rule by decree.
Since the coronavirus began, state legislatures have been impotent in keeping their governors’ power in check. Using the excuse of emergency powers and the virus, state legislative branches have abdicated their responsibilities, and they have proven themselves to be utterly useless.
This is breaking the back of the all-important safeguard- checks and balances. You have idiots like Emperor Cuomo going out there and claiming that his decrees are the law. That the legislative branch gave him supreme authority in their emergency powers order. The NYS Legislature needs to wake up, and it shouldn’t matter that they may be in the same political party.
James Madison warned in Federalist 47 that all powers- legislative, executive, and judicial- concentrated in the same hands, is your very definition of tyranny. (Federalist 47)
I want you to think about that for a second because that’s what we have now. And the Emperor of NYS had the nerve to criticize anyone who questions his edicts. He even criticized law enforcement officers who have publicly stated that they will not enforce these mandates because they believe they are unconstitutional. The Emperor said that law enforcement officers don’t get to decide which laws they want to enforce and which ones they don’t. He said these law enforcement officers are acting unconstitutionally and are disregarding the Constitution.
I mean how much more tone def can you get. The people who have thrown away the Constitution, who have completely disregarded and shredded the Constitution, are the ones who are drunk on their power. They don’t even see the hypocrisy or the irony.
Does the Emperor realize, as he says you don’t get to pick and choose what laws you’re going to enforce, that he declared New York a sanctuary state? This from the same governors and mayors, that allowed cities to be destroyed over the summer in the name of social justice, and telling their police officers to stand down. These people don’t care about laws. I mean for God’s sake, they won’t enforce laws against rioters and looters, but God forbid you have more than 6, 8, 10 people in your home on Thanksgiving. Then they want the police to raid your home Roger Stone style.
They implement these unconstitutional decrees, and you must obey and comply with these edicts or be prepared to be publicly shamed in the name of virtue.
And it get’s even worse. The Governor of Oregon is encouraging neighbors to rat each other out. She openly stated that if a neighbor sees too many people at someone’s home, call the cops. That’s the hallmarks of a healthy society. Turn us into a bunch of stool pigeons and have us ratting each other out fostering more hate and division.
And the scary part is you will have losers that will call the cops. People who have something missing in their lives, who feel inadequate about something, who are generally miserable human beings. They would call the cops, and then these pompous self-righteous losers will pat themselves on the back and tell themselves that they are saving lives and what a good human being they are. Actually, they won’t tell themselves that. Instead, they’ll post it all over social media because they seek validation from others. That’s how empty their lives are.
Closing
Understand, everything we are witnessing, our founders warned us against. They warned about empowering the government and looking to the government to solve all problems. They warned that as government gains more power, the power begins to consolidate. They warned against the bureaucratic state.
They warned that authority would be usurped by people who believed they are moral holy warriors and more virtuous than other people. See if you want to live your life. If you want to work. If you want to raise a healthy family. If you want to socialize with another human being, you are a horrible person that simply wants people to die.
If you complain about masks. If you complain about lockdowns. If you complain about restrictions. You are nothing more than a selfish jerk who wants people to die.
And that’s the scary part today. They are blind to the dangers of the all-powerful government, and so many are willfully ignorant. They don’t challenge anything. They simply obey and comply never pushing back or asking questions. Even worse, they encourage the government to usurp our precious freedom which allows us to exercise our God-given liberties.
Be warned, as government usurps more and more of our freedoms, it rarely gets returned back to us in full. Also, understand that when the next crisis comes, the government will take it even further.
So I felt it was important to bring in a little historical perspective this Thanksgiving, especially when I see the increasing calls by many who believe the government has a right to dictate who we celebrate with, who comes into our homes, and how we celebrate.
This Thanksgiving, enjoy spending time with people you care about. Life is short, and after a year like we are having, the human connection is more important now than ever. And if anyone comes to your door and gives you a hard time, just let them know it’s a peaceful protest, and apparently, you can do whatever you want then.
I want to wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy the holiday weekend.
Own Your FREEDOM, Your HEALTH, Your WELLNESS
Peace of mind in a box - keep a Medical Emergency Kit in your medicine cabinet
Get 10% off your order Use code PAS at checkout
Also, while you are enjoying the weekend, don’t forget to share The P.A.S. Report podcast with others and post it on all your social media channels, including Parler, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and wherever else. And if you are listening on an Apple device, be sure to rate the podcast, and take 30-seconds to write a nice review.
As always, thank you for joining me, stay safe and I’ll be back next week.
The P.A.S. Report wants to hear from you. Send your feedback to podcast@pasreport.com. Please leave a 5-star rating and write a review on Apple Podcast.
Please share this episode with others & on social media.
*PA Strategies, LLC. earns a commission when you make a purchase through any affiliate links on this website and within this post.
Follow Nicholas Giordano
You must be logged in to post a comment.