Glenn Ellmers has done it again, with a new provocation that “the constitutional republic created by our founders no longer exists.” His article posted at American Greatness, “Hard Truths and Radical Possibilities,” backs up this startling proposition with five very stark supporting arguments, starting with the fact that elections no longer suffice to control our government (even if they are fair and above reproach). Elections are now a mere nuisance—barely a speed bump—for the administrative state that is determined to rule us regardless of the opinions of the American people. Neither political competence in the ordinary sense nor “normal politics” are sufficient to remedy the crisis we are in:
Our current woke oligarchy becomes more fanatical every month, yet instead of getting weaker or provoking a popular backlash, it seems to grow ever stronger. In part, this is because the elites have maintained a semblance of institutional normalcy. No matter how extreme its policies—COVID lockdowns, chemical or surgical castration of children, open borders—the ruling class carries on with a kind of constitutional kabuki theater. Citizens (or rather “people”) vote, Congress meets and passes “laws,” the president pontificates and signs documents. It is largely just a performance; it certainly doesn’t resemble government functioning as the founders intended. But it looks close enough to the real thing to persuade many people that the situation, if not perfect, is at least tolerable. There is just enough veneer of Our Democracy™ to keep most citizens from acting on their dissatisfactions and justified fears.
Lucretia joins Steve in walking through Glenn’s arguments, including a couple of even more radical arguments not included in the original article. Are we in fact approaching a revolutionary moment? Much food for thought here.
For thematic exit music, I dropped in “Don’t Misunderstand Me” from the brief-lived Rossington Collins Band of the 1980s.
So listen here, or stub out your smoking material and wander over to our hosts at Ricochet.
