Penna Dexter

The deliberations that produced the U.S. Constitution were held in secret. Anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall to find out what the Founders had produced. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Without hesitation, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Now we must ask ourselves: ‘Can we keep it?’ Respected political scientist Angelo Codavilla of the Claremont Institute argues, in an essay entitled After the Republic, that we are moving away, as a nation, from being a republic and toward what he refers to as, “some kind of empire.” Professor Codavilla writes that, “in today’s America, those in power basically do what they please.” “Over the past half-century,“ he continues, “presidents have ruled not by enforcing laws but increasingly through agencies that write their own rules, interpret them, and punish unaccountably — the administrative state.” Throughout his essay, he presents ways in which this transition is occurring. It’s not just presidents who are wielding imperial powers. The Supreme Court has invented rights — like abortion and same-sex marriage. The Court tramples on other rights, principally the freedom of speech and religion enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Our constitutional rights take a back seat to what the professor describes as “a wholly open-ended mandate to oppose discrimination.” One aspect of the administrative state involves how the civil rights movement is being co-opted to punish people for upholding the very Judeo-Christian values that used to be the norm in America. Professor Codavilla cites many examples of this beginning with the bakers and photographers who are being forced to take part in same-sex weddings. He mentions a case in which a commission in Massachusetts is attempting to force a church “to operate its bathrooms according to gender self-identification because it ‘could be seen as a place of public accommodation if it holds a secular event, such as a spaghetti supper, that is open to the general public.” He also points to the state of California’s attempt to mandate that Catholic schools admit homosexual and transgender students. He writes that the U.S. Justice Department has been looking into ways to prosecute companies, like the short term rental website Airbnb, that facilitate online transactions between parties for various services. The idea is to punish discrimination on the basis of anything, including sexual orientation or gender identity. No big surprise, Airbnb recently announced it is requiring that anyone who participates sign a statement of non-discrimination. This means renters, as well as those who welcome renters into their homes, must be supportive of men in girls’ bathrooms. In other words, committed Christians are not welcome. In After the Republic, Angelo Codavilla makes an extensive case to show it’s unlikely a leader from either party will shrink the growing “imperial regime” and return the nation to the rule of law. Sadly, he may be right.