Saturday, July 30, 2022

US Constitution vs the Declaration of Independence

 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.

 

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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 othersHere 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

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