Dear Editor,
Michael McKenna got one principle correct in his
“Alternative Hypothesis” column (July 23, 2022) regarding his personal views of
the US Constitution. He said,
“governments are instituted by people to do a whole variety of things”. But when something vital needs to be done in
a democratic republic consisting of dozens if not millions of special interests
and wants, that is when dysfunction sets in.
It is made worse when people or political parties use words and phrases
lacking clear definitions.
The greatest problem-solving method known to humanity is
non-democratic. Scientists and engineers have provided us with unprecedented
power. They operate using proven truths
based on fundamental principles. Such self-evident
truths like gravity, a child should not die before their parent, the right to
self-defense, and other “Laws of Nature” that human lawmakers largely ignore.
Policymakers invent their own principles using broad words
like peace, terrorism, democracy, radicalization, or “foundational law” (as Mr.
McKenna did). These can be interpreted many ways that only lead to more dysfunction.
Before Trump was elected a survey of US national security
experts concluded that the greatest threat to our security was our own “government
dysfunction”. No wonder Trump was
elected over both political party platforms.
With Biden’s poor popularity
rating slightly above 30% and Congress less than half that Mr. McKenna can’t
see that our Constitutional system is failing.
He should invite his readers to give a school grade to each of the five
Constitution’s goals in its Preamble.
According to Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” “freedom and
security” are “the true design and end of government”. This is “the simple voice of nature and of reason...”
The original Constitutional Congress produced a profoundly flawed
document. It ignored the God-given
rights of others. That led to a civil war that killed more Americans than all
other of our nation’s wars combined. One major fundamental flaw of our
Constitution remains. McKenna calls it “Independence” a “Foundational law”.
But “Independence” is an illusion. It exists nowhere in the known
universe except on paper and in our minds.
So we make laws ignoring the immutable interdependence of all life on
earth (and beyond).
The most valuable national security action of President
Trump was creating our newest federal branch the Cyber and Infrastructure
Security Agency. CISA Director Jen
Easterly said “Everything is connected, everything is interdependent, so
everything is vulnerable.... And that’s why this has to be a more than
whole of government, a more than whole of nation [effort]. It really has to be a
global effort ... wherever feasible.”
Our existing Constitution cannot protect us against the
ungoverned global forces now crossing our borders at will. Infectious diseases, terrorism, extreme
weather patterns, economic contagion, or WMD (bio, cyber, nano, nuclear... ).
Until our system adapts to the real world of
interconnectedness, don’t expect any election to protect our freedoms and our
security.
******************
Below are two Constitutional founder
quotes supporting my assertions.
“Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof
appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is
preferable to all others…Here then is
the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral
virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz.,
freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with snow, or
our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest
darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.” Thomas Paine, Common
Sense. 1776
It has been thought a considerable advance towards establishing
the principles
of Freedom, to say, that government is a
compact between those who govern and those that are governed: but this cannot
be true, because it is putting the effect before the cause; for as man must
have existed before governments existed, there necessarily was a time when
governments did not exist, and consequently there could originally exist no
governors to form such a compact with. The fact therefore must be, that the
individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered
into a compact with each other to produce a government: and this is the only
mode in which governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on
which they have a right to exist. – Thomas
Paine
