From our vantage point in 2021, it’s apparent the federal government is heading toward a precipice. Sadly, it obscures the profound wisdom of the fifty-five men who sat in the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. They understood that a new constitution had to be crafted to provide for a national government with balanced power. They disagreed about the form of the institutions that would properly exercise that power. The fiercest controversies revolved over two major issues: distribution of power between the state governments and the national government, and the composition of the national legislature.
Could they have envisioned the brutal power of this federal leviathan today? Present day prophets missed the inexorable rise of the tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Twitter. Conceding our Founders were prescient regarding federal domination over Americans, few doubt they could fathom the reach of Big Tech titans. When grilled recently on Capitol Hill over their market power, the titans dodged, weaved and lied. One House member hyped, “Our Founders would not bow before a king. Nor should we bow before the emperors of the on-line economy.” Soaring rhetoric. Zero results.
It’s understandable that The Articles of Confederation had created a weak national government as a safeguard against the oppression. Addressing the flaws in it demonstrated to those men that a national government was too weak, lacking the power to deal decisively with foreign governments and countries, or to resolve such domestic problems of taxation and civil disturbances. Conversely, they understood the over-arching principle was that the government remain one of limited powers, responsible to the people and to the states. It appeared daunting.
Shay’s Rebellion in 1786, was a sharp impetus to a growing sentiment for a stronger central government. Alexander Hamilton, unlike Jefferson and Mason, pleaded that the security and dignity of the U.S. demanded a stronger government. Anti-Federalist resisted expansion of a central government with the Bill of Rights, as an instrument to restrain the inevitable corruption. More than two centuries later we’re in the cross-hairs of a central government destined to devour our liberty and subvert the Constitution without firing a shot.Today anti-federalism sentiment is nearly as rare as Promethium.
At one point when the Convention appeared hopelessly deadlocked over representation, it agreed upon the “Great Compromise,” primarily the force of Benjamin Franklin. The compromise solved the problem of representation by basing representation in the lower house(House of Representatives) on population, and giving the upper house(the Senate) two representatives. Today most marvel at the miraculous outcome of the Convention’s body of men. Secular progressives are prone to attribute this grand experiment solely to the wisdom of Founders. “Not so!” said Benjamin Franklin, whose observations run counter to that claim. He observed, “I have so much faith in the general government of the world of Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance, as framing of the Constitution, should be suffered to pass without being in some degree influenced, guided and governed, by that beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits live and have their being.” General George Washington agreed adding, “That this Constitution demonstrate visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the human affairs can ever designate it.”
Our Cowboy State is a strong-hold for Patriots who insist individual liberty under God is our bedrock and the proper response to such threats. All that we do flows from that core belief. As citizens of this state and Republic established by God, it’s increasingly apparent that there are formidable forces at work to distort and erode our Constitutional liberties. Further, we believe it’s our duty and sacred obligation to serve as the “future guardians of the liberties of the country” that was foreshadowed by George Washington. We must simultaneously stand and take action against all forms of tyranny. Governor Gordon’s mask mandate at the urging of State Health Officer, was tyrannical regardless of who obeyed. Our Wyoming Constitution gives us dominion over our heath.
From afar, Washington D.C. is a yet sobering reminder that as sentinels for liberty, rather than remaining watchful, we’ve slumbered. Our Founders understood that those whom we elect must have a check on their impulses that are subject to corruption by their own passions and other dilatory appetites. John Adams knew it was consummate folly to trust in men. Therefore one must be skeptical of government overreach at any level. Inarguably D.C. is broken. “Give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry declared in 1775. It reminds us of the high cost of liberty.
Our response to Jefferson’s salutary reminder, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent” has been tepid, at best, for the past fifty years. It’s increasingly clear that liberty isn’t self-perpetuating. We stand as Patriots stood in the past for the cause of freedom and liberty. Freedom being that internal yearning within; liberty being the external exercise of that yearning.
For the foreseeable future, liberty minded citizens will scramble to stem the tide of federal encroachment grasping with a Fifth Amendment “Convention of States,” that’s a slow train that may never reach the station, or a Tenth Amendment Nullification. Have we exchanged the nobility of liberty for the ignoble mirage of security? Has this Divine gift slipped from our grasp? Therefore, we at LibertysPlace4uwy.com focus on local and state issues where our sphere of influence is greatest and most direct giving liberty a voice.
We understand the urgency to be proactive in advancing the noble cause of individual liberty under God. John Adams understood that liberty is the offspring of virtue. A strong Wyoming is essential to preparation for resisting federal encroachment and tyrannical state and local regulations. Join us in this unrelenting battle to keep the flame of liberty burning. There are no short cuts. What do you think?
Mike Pyatt’s a Natrona County resident. His email’s roderickstj@yahoo.com
Tremendous!