OPINION:
The apoplectic rage that broke out at the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett was highly revealing, and no American should miss the warning sign. It had little to do with the new Justice, only a little more to do with her promoters, and everything to do with her critics’ views of the American republic.
Press responses were bad enough, with talk of America’s “anti-democratic Constitution” and “the end of democracy.” The political response was worse. One Democratic senator: “Originalism is racist … sexist … homophobic. Originalism is just a fancy word for discrimination.” Terms such as “illegitimate,” “undemocratic” and “unconstitutional” were thrown around carelessly, and talk of “democratizing democracy,” court packing, scrapping the Electoral College are now rife.
Such talk lays bare the real American crisis. Key parts of American leadership no longer understand or accept the notion of a covenantal/constitutional republic. That is where Americans should focus. The genius of the ordered freedom of the Republic is called into question.
Many of the best writers have focused recently on issues of character in leadership, and understandably so. Character counts in a president, and it should. As John Adams wrote, people have “a right, an indisputable, unalienable indefeasible divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge — I mean of the characters and conduct of their leaders.”
For one thing, character is the bridge between a leader and his followers, so that followers can trust a leader even when they are in the dark about what he or she is doing, and why. For another thing, character is the final boundary that can stop a leader crossing a line when the leader’s power is such, and the stakes are such, that nothing else can stop him or her.
From the greatness of George Washington’s refusing the crown at Newburgh, New York, to the paranoia of Richard Nixon behind the Watergate break-in, the importance of character is written all over the history of American presidents. Presidents rise and fall by their character and the current candidates will be no different.
It’s a crisis deeper than character.
Yet character is not everything, and those who cannot get beyond it make a crucial mistake. Whether people love or loathe particular candidates, their character should not obscure the deeper crisis facing America itself. America’s uniqueness lies in its vision of ordered freedom. It is this which makes the U.S. a republic and not just a democracy, and it is this which prevents democracy from degenerating into mob rule. Freedom is always the greatest enemy of freedom.
The gravest danger to a free society is the abuse of power created by the corruption of the powerful. Freedom is not the permission to do what we like, but the power to do what we ought. Freedom therefore requires a framework — truth, character and a way of life for citizens, and a covenant or constitution for America itself.
To pursue either individual freedom or political freedom without such a framework is suicidal, yet that folly is abroad in America today. The notion of “democratizing democracy” would be as disastrous for American freedom as it would be for an orchestra to remove its conductor or an army to fight without officers. The clear and present danger from the extreme left is obvious to all with their eyes open.
Call the radical ideas what you like — neo-Marxism, Critical Theory, Social Justice Scholarship, or whatever — but the ideas of the radical left are openly opposed to ordered freedom. What requires attention now is the undermining of traditional American liberalism. Without a philosophical foundation for freedom, without a deep sense of history, and without an appreciation for the constructive role of religion, liberalism is hollowing itself out. American liberalism is becoming illiberal, it is losing its all-important differences from the left, and increasingly it no longer defends America’s foundational freedom. All that is left is power.
The implications for America are titanic. One side’s call is to “Make America great again,” and the other’s is to “Restore America’s soul,” but neither can succeed unless they restore what made America America in the first place. That should be the concern that unites all Americans, regardless of party, liberals as well as conservatives. Character certainly counts, but character is only one part of a deeper and wider crisis. The American Revolution and its unique vision of freedom are at stake, and both cry out for defenders who will make their stand in time.
• Os Guinness, an author of many books, lives in McLean, Virginia. His forthcoming “Magna Carta for Humanity: Sinai’s Revolutionary Faith and the Future of Freedom” will be published in 2021.
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