In the past year, Utah Senator Mike Lee crafted a book defending the values and principles underlying the United States Constitution. In it, Lee delivers a powerful critique of the political establishment, arguing that our Constitution, civil liberties and some of the basic procedural protections etched in the law have been ignored. While the upcoming election has spawned various policy proposals from candidates on both the left and right, I believe it is important to evaluate the impending problems resulting from the unholy alliance existing between Republicans and Democrats.
Our Founding Fathers were philosophically correct when they designed a government constrained by constitutional safeguards decentralizing power and protecting individual liberties. Today, however, the executive branch has undoubtedly usurped basic, fundamental powers enshrined in Article I of the Constitution.
For example, the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war. However, instead of coming before Congress to request a Declaration of War, President Obama and Hillary Clinton worked unilaterally in the toppling of a Libya’s secular dictator, Muammar al-Gaddafi, using executive fiat. This hawkish employment of wartime decisions has undoubtedly produced unintended consequences, spawning harsh realities in the failed state of Libya. Critics from all stripes, such as Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, dubbed the failed project a “jihadist wonderland.”
In addition to countless unconstitutional wars in the Middle East caused by both President Obama and President Bush, we have seen the slow erosion of civil liberties. In 2011, Congress passed a four-year extension of three expiring Patriot Act provisions, allowing the government to legally conduct indiscriminate surveillance of innocent Americans and their phone records. Many staunch advocates of civil liberties consider this massive collection of meta-data a complete violation of the fourth amendment.
The NSA also used generalized warrants to obtain information on U.S. citizens. The Constitution created a Bill of Rights as a guardrail to constrain government’s coercive nature: if the Constitution can no longer protect us from Big Brother, then who will? Many leaders argue for surveillance in the benevolent name of security and protection. However, as Benjamin Franklin once said, “those who are willing to give up their liberty for security deserve neither.”
The last problem, which I believe is the most important, is our looming budget insolvency crisis. While this issue does not directly challenge questions of constitutionality, as Congress legitimately appropriates funds, it nevertheless diverges from certain constitutional principles of limited government and provides an unerring threat to the future budget and economy. In October, Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which increased spending while suspending the debt limit for 17 months.
Additionally, according to the Social Security Trustees, the Social Security Disability Insurance program (SSDI) is scheduled to run out of money in 2016. However, under this bipartisan budget, the bankruptcy deadline would be pushed off for an additional six years (2022), allowing the government to raid the Social Security Trust Fund to the tune of $150 billion in order to fund the largest disability insurance program. Instead of enacting sensible budgetary reforms, our political establishment kicked the can down the road, increasing our national debt and providing no real solution to our budget problems.
The Washington Cartel has zero respect for our Constitution, civil liberties and holding the line on spending. Republicans want more money spent on the military and Democrats want more spent on domestic programs. The unholy alliance between the left and right has driven our nation to irresponsible, irrational and reckless spending, unconstitutional wars, and illegal spying on innocent Americans. This upcoming presidential election will bring America to a crossroads: will we return to our founding principles of limited government, constitutional liberties and peace, or will we continue to pursue idealistic, interventionist policies that leave Americans in a worse position?
For me, the choice is simple: I will vote for the Constitution.