Thomas L. Jipping
December 9, 1999
A recent poll by
More ominous signs came during the Republican
candidates' December 2 debate in
Some campaigns focus on the particulars of specific
policy proposals. Since Bill Clinton and Al Gore have done so much damage to
the very foundations of American freedom, this campaign should stick to the
basics. Psalm 11:3 provides the perfect banner: "If the foundations be
destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
Three of these foundations are a restrained
judiciary, the separation of governmental powers, and federalism.
In fact, Alexander Hamilton responded to concerns
that judges would be too powerful by saying: "Here, sir, the people
govern." President Abraham Lincoln later warned that allowing judges to
decide "the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the
whole people" would mean that "the people will have ceased to be
their own rulers."
Yet
Mr. Gore has pledged to continue this assault on
freedom. He recently said on Face the Nation, if elected president, he will
appoint judges who will "breathe into" the Constitution new meaning
they discover. It makes little difference what elected representatives do under
such activist judicial rule.
So the debate in this campaign should be about
whether the people or the judges should run the country.
Another foundation of freedom is the diffusion of
governmental power between separate branches. While the Constitution gives the
power to make laws to the legislature,
One of these is ordering executive branch agencies to
issue rules that go beyond Congress' legislative mandate. The Department of
Defense, for example, issued regulations creating the more permissive
environment for homosexuals that Congress legislated in 1993.
The Supreme Court is considering the claim by Mr.
Clinton's Food and Drug Administration that it can regulate tobacco products
without congressional authorization. Mr. Clinton has ordered the Labor
Department to issue new rules allowing federal funds intended for unemployment
insurance to be used for paying employed persons who want to stay home with a
newborn child.
Mr. Clinton has also tried to legislate through
executive orders. While these are properly used only to enhance administration
of the executive branch, he has tried to change the law in areas only Congress
may legitimately address. These include civil rights and labor policy, where
even increasingly liberal courts have ruled that Mr. Clinton has exceeded his
authority.
Mr. Clinton has also tried to change domestic
legislative policy through international agreements. Even when no formal treaty
exists, as in the case of the Beijing Women's Conference, Mr. Clinton has
worked to conform domestic policy to international opinion. As the disastrous
World Trade Organization meeting recently concluded, he sought to introduce
labor and environmental issues into the international body's deliberations.
The president has also abused his appointment power
to install extremists in key positions with Senate approval. Though
Before Congress adjourned in early December,
So the debate in this campaign should be about the
fundamental question: Should the people still have the authority to run the
country through their elected legislators?
A third foundation of freedom is the division of
government between the federal and state governments. As James Madison
described it, the federal government has "few and defined" powers
while the states and the people have the "numerous and indefinite"
remainder. These days, however, federal legislation seems to be the response to
every tragedy.
Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has
warned against federalizing matters traditionally in the states' hands. This
trend, in fact, confounds the problem of a too-powerful judiciary by giving
federal judges jurisdiction over more and more areas of social, cultural,
political, and economic life.
In the end, it makes little difference whether a
congressional or presidential candidate supports parental choice in education,
school prayer, or even abortion, because federal judges decide these issues.
A congressional candidate's position on a range of
issues makes little difference, if a president can set policy on these issues
directly through executive orders or indirectly through faceless bureaucrats.
Many Americans already believe their vote does not
count. Their vote will not count until the foundations of freedom are restored.
These include a restrained judiciary, as well as the separation of government
power and federalism, steps the Supreme Court recently described as
"adopted by the Framers to ensure protection of our fundamental
liberties."
That's what will breathe life and meaning into this
boring presidential campaign.
Thomas L.
Jipping, J.D., is Director of the Free Congress Foundation's Judicial Selection
Monitoring Project.
Reproduced
with the permission of NewsMax.com.