Activism in the Age of Lawlessness: Under dictatorships and totalitarian democracies such as now exist in Europe, laws are arbitrary in nature and are simply defined at the whim of an elected body or bureaucracy. There is no certainty that the legal actions of citizens on any given day will be legal the following day.
In today's Western societies many, particularly conservatives who should know better, believed the Rule of Law simply meant obeying the laws set forth by government. Far from that understanding, the Rule of Law is actually a restraint on government that protects the rights of the people. The rule Rule of Law constrains government from imposing arbitrary rules and laws.
In a nation with true Rule of Law, there is more certainty as defined in "The Road to Serfdom" by Fredric Hayek:
"Nothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of the great principle known as the Rule of Law. Stripped of all technicalities, this means that government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand – rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how the authority will use its coercive powers in given circumstances and to plan one's individual affairs on the basis of this knowledge. ..."
It is not just liberals or "progressives" who have damaged the Rule of Law in the United States and caused laws and rule-making to be arbitrary in nature. While we conservatives prefer to look at only Obama's actions as violations of the Rule of Law, we fail to look at the actions of conservative legislative bodies, including Congress controlled by Republicans. As an example, assets of individuals can now be seized and sold by police, although no charges are brought or crime ever proven. Also, "no knock" searches of homes in the middle of the night by police are common. And many people are now convicted of crimes in our courts without habeas corpus.
Sadly, these violations of liberty approved by "conservative" legislatures and courts can now be used against those who do not agree with the emerging politically correct society. We see this when government forces a Christian photographer to work at a homosexual wedding, or when our children are told they may not read their Bibles on a public school bus. It is also evident from the way federal agencies pass rules that impose on our everyday lives – and then they can fine or jail us for not following those rules, without so much as a hearing. Tomorrow, will we wake up and find out it is against the law to use our lawnmowers?
How did we reach this point?
Our liberties have been eroded in particular by the federal courts over the last 50 to 60 years, as is evident by these courts having voided laws of Congress, laws of state legislatures and in some cases state constitutions that had been voted into law by the people. Roe v. Wade, which legalized the murder of the unborn, is one such example. Before that tragic decision by the Supreme Court, abortion was illegal in almost all states.
Currently the prominent issue is the attack on traditional marriage, as federal courts have voided laws and state constitutional amendments passed by the voters of the states. Unelected judges have simply overturned the results of voting by the citizens.
Federal courts are causing havoc by changing established law because they have been allowed to, under the misconception that there are three "equal" branches of government. This is false. Under the Constitution, there are NOT three equal branches of government. In reality all power resides in the people's house, the Congress. As just some examples: The president cannot fire the Congress, but the Congress can fire the president. Cabinet members cannot be hired by the president without the approval of Congress, and not even a Supreme Court justice can be appointed to the Court without the approval of Congress.
The Congress holds the power to create (and, implicitly, to define the jurisdiction of) federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court (i.e. Courts of Appeals, District Courts and various others under Article I and Article III). Indeed the Congress can impeach any federal judge, including a Supreme Court justice. The problem today is a Congress, under both Democratic and Republican leadership, that has created an imperial presidency which is out of control, while failing to fulfill its role to rein in abusive courts.
We must continue the fight for our liberty, as Christians all over the world are doing in the face of insurmountable odds. Yes, we are losing battles, but many of those before us who fought for liberty did not live to see victory in the battles they fought. For example, more than 500 years passed from the signing of the Magna Carta to the guarantees of liberty in the Constitution of the United States.
Resistance for the cause of true human liberty – not the politically correct version but real liberty – is never in vain, even if the result is not instant. John Adams and William Wilberforce spent their entire lives working for the liberty of enslaved mankind. Obtaining and maintaining true freedom, true liberty, is a generational battle. If Americans find it too hard to fight for their rights, they will be exchanging their freedoms for some foolish sense of security.
If citizens who understand the true nature of freedom under the Rule of Law are not willing to face arrest in demanding that their ever-shrinking sphere of freedom be protected and expanded, then that sphere will vanish. Surely freedom-loving peoples in the West, particularly Christians, should be willing to take some risks at a time when Christians in Indonesia, Pakistan, Syria and North Korea are dying for refusing to renounce their faith.
Now is not the time to surrender without argument. Americans must stand up to the "progressives" who want to control our lives at all levels of government and spheres of influence and say, enough is enough. We can never win if we are silent. If we remain silent, the day will come that we will be forced to be silent about our beliefs.