Rex Quondam, Rex Futurus

[Valin]

TAS:

A new constitution for a 21st century empire.

F. H. Buckley

October 2012

 

OVER THE LAST 250 YEARS there have been four American constitutions, each giving us a very different form of government. The first constitution was that of the pre-Revolution Crown colonies, under which royal governors dominated the elected assemblies. These were swept aside by the American Revolution, and (after the interregnum of the Articles of Confederation) the Framers, at their convention in the summer of 1787, produced the second constitution, one of congressional government, with power centered in the Senate and House of Representatives. The seeds of the third constitution were found in the second constitution and emerged over the Republic’s first 50 years, as the president became popularly elected and his office emerged in the form of the modern executive: commanding, decisive, and possessing all the authority of the only person elected by the nation at large.

 

With Obama, we have now entered into a fourth constitution, one of strong presidential government, in which the president has slipped off many of the constraints of the third constitution’s separation of powers. He makes and unmakes laws without the consent of Congress and spends billions to reward his friends. His power exceeds that of any American ruler since the Revolution. He is rex quondam, rex futurus—the once and future king.

 

The election next month is a choice between two very different ideas about the role of the state, between free markets and crony capitalism, between fiscal prudence and financial profligacy, between a forceful foreign policy and a fainéant one. It is also a referendum on which constitution is to govern us, and what we decide will determine what kind of country we will have for many decades to come.

 

(Snip)