COMMENTARY: A Return to the Rule of Law

If there’s one thing that Americans find intolerable; it’s the blatant disregard for the rule of law, especially by government. As the Supreme Law of the Land, it must begin with the application of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and all 27 Amendments as they were intended, not subverted activist judges to suit their Utopian dreams.

For almost two and a half centuries, as nations around the world came and went, except on rare occasion such as our Civil War, people across the globe would watch with awe and envy the peaceful transfer of power in the United States. America has been the destination for countless millions from every imaginable culture seeking a better life for themselves and their children because here, more so than any other place, people could count on more opportunity, more happiness and more justice. Once here, if you didn’t agree with a way a specific State did things, you were free to move. This simple philosophy is what made America great.

The commitment to the rule of law is part of our very essence because we were founded on a philosophy of reason. We proudly announced to the world in our Declaration of Independence that without the rule of law, without justice, no government can rightfully claim sovereignty:

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.

We gambled our lives and fortunes by revolting against the most powerful nation at the time because it regularly broke the law. While we have made our share of mistakes, we admit them. In fact, we make it a point to teach them to our children. We have made it our national mission to aspire to achieve the lofty idealism set down in that monumental announcement. Sometimes we have done it well, often only after countless injustices and terrible loss of life. But we have never, ever ceased trying.

For the last 8 years under the Obama administration, the United States have experienced an unprecedented and frankly embarrassing level of lawlessness. They weaponized the IRS to target conservative groups. They incited racial divisions. They failed to protect our Embassy personnel and then repeatedly lied to the American people in order to secure reelection. They trafficked in firearms that led to the death of a Border Patrol agent. They ignored and even facilitated mass voter fraud. They lied about Obamacare from its inception to its final, inevitable death. They abused thousands of U.S. Veterans. They unilaterally decided that the Executive Branch could not only ignore laws it didn’t like, but could create laws by decree. They aided and abetted felonies by protecting illegal sanctuary cities. They instituted double-standards for domestic terrorist organizations such as the New Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter, allowing public calls for violence and murder. They illegally eaves-dropped on journalists and their families. And finally, they allowed the reputation of the FBI to be tarnished by mishandling and white-washing Hillary Clinton’s failure to secure State secrets.

Time and time again, this administration abused and blatantly broke the law by choosing who they would and would not investigate and prosecute based on ideology. Americans watched with disgust as their Federal Government approached banana republic status. But when the time came to act in accordance with the law, the American people selected a champion and swept the tyrants away in an election flood of historic proportions.

Now that the sun is rising once again, there is a unique opportunity not only for a return to law, but to purge Federal and State Governments of crooks and cronies  … to drain the swamp as Donald Trump put it. But applying the law equally and constitutionally will require three principles that will encounter severe opposition every step of the way. Failure in any area will mean nothing has really changed.

1. Appoint the most-qualified individuals and allow them to do their jobs, which must include investigating and prosecuting all past and future infringements on the law independent of politics and connections. Most administrations in our past have been investigated by individuals they appointed. Returning to the principle that no one is above the law is the only way to deter the kind of collusion and unconstitutional infringements by government that the American people detest.

2. Despite moral inclinations to use the Federal Government to superimpose traditional values on States, a clear line between State and Federal powers must be reinstated. For example, though the recent decision by the people of various States to allow the medical or recreational use of marijuana will be seen by some in the new administration as contradicting Federal law, the Constitution is clear that the will of the people to determine authority in powers not specifically enumerated to the Federal Government is a matter of States’ rights. States’ rights and enumerated Federal powers are the foundations of our Constitution and they must be respected even when inconvenient.

3. The Trump administration should appoint Supreme Court justices to enable the Executive and Judicial branches cooperation in ensuring that the American people’s inalienable rights, as outlined in the Bill of Rights, are protected. This means a return to Freedom OF religion and not Freedom FROM it; reciprocity for Concealed Carry Permits across the entire Republic since “Shall not be infringed” means just that; an end to so-called sanctuary cities, to cite only a few examples. Finally, we will know that we have approached success when we regularly hear Federal Courts reject appeals brought to them from the States on the grounds that there is no Federal authority is such areas.