Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? The cycles of Heaven in twenty centuries bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust.
This was the rhetorical question posed by T.S. Eliot in his play, “The Rock,” written in 1934 during the Great Depression between the world wars of the tumultuous 20th Century. It is worth recalling during the 21st Century’s Communication Revolution’s deluge of information not only as a philosophical speculation but also as a matter of practical survival.
For our free republic, one of the most ignored and/or forgotten concepts is federalism.
Ponder the enduring, if unheeded, wisdom of the author of A Humane Economy: The Social Framework of the Free Market, the economist Wilhelm Röpke:
Once the mania of uniformity and centralization spreads and once the centrists begin to lay down the law of the land, then we are in the presence of one of most serious danger signals warning us of the impending loss of freedom, humanity, and the health of society.
Of course, the left has long supported the centralization of federal power. They have been the most assiduously active promoters of the administrative state’s elitist bureaucracy and sweeping presidential executive orders, federal statutes, and judicial rulings—all of which are designed to override past, present, and future state and local decision-making.
The left’s logic is brutally straightforward: namely, employing the most rapid means to implement their radical agenda. While ostensibly being done in the name of democracy, the left has shown no compunction in having the least accountable branch of the federal government—the unelected judiciary—and the executive branch’s federal bureaucracy to subvert a duly-elected president and his agenda.
That the left also does so while at the same time arguing that “our democracy”—50% +1 of the electorate—has primacy over the individual constitutional rights recognized and protected by the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions belies their sincerity and highlights their hypocrisy. In sum, the left willfully ignores federalism, precisely because it is a bar to controlling and coercing the entire populace as soon as possible—an intrinsic constitutional check and balance against untrammeled despotism.
Yet, what of the right, who has long championed federalism and local control, rightly arguing the states are the “laboratories of democracy,” and guarding our God-given rights against the “tyranny of the majority?” Sadly, it appears they have largely forgotten about federalism.
It would be unfair and inaccurate to blame this forgetfulness on the rise of Republican-populism during the ascent of President Trump and in the wake of the MAGA movement. The GOP betrayal of federalism was manifest long before this intraparty realignment, indeed dating back to Nixon’s domestic, if not longer.
Yet, in responding to the Obama and Biden administrations’ weaponization of the government—including the use of its police powers against political opponents and flouting immigration laws to open America’s borders to gain partisan electoral advantage—the right has felt compelled to use the very tools of the federal government to reverse these policies that the left largely used to implement them: presidential executive orders. The reason is roughly similar: undoing the left’s policies as soon as possible.
To date, this has been done through executive orders and by others under the president’s direction within the executive branch. If reversing his leftist predecessors’ executive orders were the sole goal, it would be far more palatable. However, the need for urgent reform of the federal Leviathan has spurred the presidential pen to expand into uncharted areas. If these are rendered stop-gap measures until the GOP majorities in the House and Senate do their jobs and pass the appropriate legislation for the presidential pen to sign into law, it will be far less concerning for the future of federalism and local decision-making.
Still, it will not suffice to still the angst over federal centralization. Ensuing federal legislation must be measured, where applicable, for its adherence to federalism. Further, the presidential executive orders must consider their precedential value not merely for future Republican presidents, but more importantly, for how such executive orders will be used by prospective leftist presidents. In sum, in the rush to undo disastrous leftist policies, the right must not provide a roadmap for their return—or worse.
Yes, some on the right will aver that time is of the essence to save our free republic. But, especially when paved in haste, good intentions will “bring us farther from God and nearer to the Dust” on our way to some place worse. One forgets or ignores federalism at their peril and that of others. Prudence and patience are virtues for a reason, and federalism and local control—subsidiarity—are proven means to promote and protect personal liberty, human dignity, and a healthy society.
An American Greatness contributor, the Hon. Thaddeus G. McCotter (M.C., Ret.) served Michigan’s 11th Congressional District from 2003-2012, He served as Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee; and as a member of the Financial Services, Joint Economic, Budget, Small Business, and International Relations Committees. Not a lobbyist, he is also a contributor to Chronicles; frequent public speaker and moderator for public policy seminars; and a co-host of “John Batchelor: Eye on the World” on CBS radio, among sundry media appearances.