THE IMMINENT DEMISE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A Southern Perspective
“The
American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can
bribe the public with the public's money.” Alexis de Tocqueville
It is not without sadness that I witness the rapid decline of the United
States. It is my home and the home of
all my relatives but a few distant cousins who reside in Canada. My paternal grandparents moved to Mississippi
in 1907 from the Province of Ontario.
The maternal side of my family has a long history of living in the
South. My great-grandfather, Christopher
J. Cox, fought for the Confederate States of America.
The United States of America was, upon its creation, exactly what the
name infers. It was a group of
independent states who chose to unite by creating a central government which
would carry out the wishes of the states and provide more security for each of
them.
"The several
states composing the United States of America are not united on the principle
of unlimited submission to their general government; but by a compact under the
style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments
thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes [and]
delegated to that government certain definite powers and whensoever the general
government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and
of no force. To this compact each state acceded as a state, and is an integral
party, its co-states forming, as to itself, the other party. The government
created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent
of the powers delegated to itself, since that would have made its discretion,
and not the Constitution the measure of its powers." Thomas Jefferson
The founding fathers did not agree on the power to be given the central government, but the best consensus of their viewpoints must be obtained from the Constitution. This is the document they used to memorialize what powers the new government would have.
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.
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton preferred a strong central government, but even he noted that
it is necessary to require that government to control itself. It seems difficult to argue that the federal
government is willing or able to exert any substantial self control.
The Tenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was included to make
certain that the powers of the federal government were limited to those
specified and all others remained with the States.
The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to
the states respectively, or to the people. 10th Amendment US
Constitution
Many will argue the exact date, event, or judicial decision that put the
United States on a slippery slope destined for mediocrity or what is most
likely something much worse. In truth
those first faltering steps away from an amazing system of government began
shortly after its creation. The
fortunate confluence of great men at a time when their abilities could be put
to a higher use than even they likely expected was relatively brief.
In less than one hundred years a president who violated the Constitution
to a degree never before seen was considered by many to be great. In the 21st century the myth of
Abraham Lincoln remains. He is regaled
for having “saved the Union” as if that cause could possibly justify the deaths
of a million human beings.
In “saving the Union” he also removed the final barrier and protection
of the states and people from the all powerful federal government. Freely the states joined together but few
believed that once in the Union there was no escape.
WE the Delegates of the people of Virginia,
duly elected in pursuance of a recommendation from the General Assembly, and
now met in Convention, having fully and freely investigated and discussed the
proceedings of the Federal Convention, and being prepared as well as the most
mature deliberation hath enabled us, to decide thereon, DO
in the name and in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make known that
the powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the people of the
United States may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to
their injury or oppression, and that every power not granted thereby
remains with them and at their will: that therefore no right of any
denomination, can be cancelled, abridged, restrained or modified, by the
Congress, by the Senate or House of Representatives acting in any capacity, by
the President or any department or officer of the United States, except in
those instances in which power is given by the Constitution for those purposes:
and that among other essential rights, the liberty of conscience and of the
press cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained or modified by any authority of
the United States. State of Virginia,
June 26, 1788
The concept of “saving the Union” at all costs is a puzzlement to
me. It means, in the final analysis,
keeping the Southern States: the very part of the United States often derided
as backward and worthy of scorn. When
you consider the north was willing to allow hundreds of thousands to die in
order to keep this “backward” area of the country it remains an enigma.
Had the Confederate States of America not been invaded there would be
two free nations instead of one. Slavery
could not have lasted into the twentieth century for so many reasons that it seems
a waste of time to list them, but I will mention two. In addition to the fact that no other
developed nation would have condoned slavery, none would have traded with the
Confederate States.
The end of the Confederate States of America and the aftermath of that
tragedy, fixed in place a federal government able to control its citizens but
unable to control itself. The final
threat to an omnipotent federal government is secession. Without that ultimate weapon the states are
defenseless against an ever growing and intrusive federal government.
It is no surprise that the issue of secession has been mentioned lately
in both Texas and Montana. While not a
serious possibility at this time, the increasing dissatisfaction of a large
segment of the population combined with the rapid overreaching of the federal
government has certainly set into motion the demise of the United States as we
have come to know it.
There are really only two questions yet to be answered. The first is whether the people of the United
States will wrest control of the government from those politicians who pander
to the lowest common denominator. This
is highly unlikely due to evolving demographics, the changing concept of what a
government should do and a press (newspapers, television) that has totally
abdicated the responsibility to be a watchdog for the people.
The second question relates to how long before the United States ceases
to be a nation demanding respect. An
adjunct matter is whether the world will survive the failure of the United
States. The road is downhill and the
speed at which we hurtle to our demise will no doubt increase.
I wish it were not so but as Jefferson Davis said: “Truth crushed to the earth is truth still and like a seed will rise
again.” Whatever words are written here will in no
manner change what is true. Whether ten
years or fifty, it is as certain as anyone can be of the future that the demise
of the United States awaits only the passage of time, but certainly not time
measured in centuries.
Liberty cannot be established without
morality, nor morality without faith.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Jack Kean
Copyright 2009
