No Other Elite Will Ever Again Say, “Here’s a gun, don’t take any …”

One of key differentials between America and most countries is crystallized nicely in this tweet I happened across:

“We all know that elites like the ones from our founding were a godsend that will never happen again. No other elite will ever say ‘here's a gun, don't take any shit’.”

Certainly the founding fathers put their money where their mouth was concerning their trust in democracy, to the point they wrote the second amendment to ensure gun ownership in case of a tyrannical government. (And they were the government at the time! Bold move.) 

It was their last check and balance, the last line of defense for the people in case the Constitution’s separation of powers and three branches of government failed (which is rapidly happening now, in part because of the shocking weakness of Congress and due to the addition of a disruptive fourth branch of government, the FBI and DOJ, which obstructs or cancels the functioning of the executive branch.) 

The power dynamics are all screwed versus what the founders intended. Instead of three equal branches you have this:

Legislative: very weak due to internal division and a desire to be pundits rather than legislators. They are most vulnerable group to elections so have morphed into a group that refuses to make stands that will cause them to lose their prestige decision in Washington. They love the Capitol city too much to leave it. 

Executive:  Stronger than the founders intended and yet also weaker in the sense that the internal spy agencies can remove (Nixon) or hamper the functioning of a presidency (Reagan, Trump).  Meanwhile, the huge production of federal agencies and bureaucrats have taken over many of the functions of congress and are huge unelected, permanent power brokers. 

Judicial: Stronger than founders intended. Lawyers run the country and the Dep’t of Justice has become now a venue for punishing political enemies. The Supreme Court was intended to interpret the law but have, of course, made law (again impinging on Congressional function) by “finding” in the Constitution a right to abort (only recently overturned) and the right to marry someone of your same sex. 

So the founders vision was hampered primarily by a weak legislative branch that no longer does effective oversight on the spy agencies, by the addition of a layer of permanent bureaucracy in the executive branch they could not have foreseen, and by the usurpation of power by the Judicial branch. 

The power grabs by the judicial and executive were partially at the behest and negligence of Congress but also simple power grabs “because they could”.  This is how you move from a functioning republic to a more despotic regime.  It’s like the frog boiling in the saucepan, slowly getting less and less democracy per year with most unaware of it.  The founding fathers knew this would be the constant temptation, the taking of power from the people, and put in heroic safeguards in the case of the Bill of Rights.  But, alas, those rights are constantly chipped away at and threatened. 

And as if that isn’t bad enough, Thomas Jefferson’s expressed wish for a vigilant press has of course faltered. We have a media that functions barely at all except as a press release for elites.