Wednesday, November 29, 2000

By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

U.S.A., 2020 For the first time since the founding of our nation, Americans are living under a dictatorship.

Such dramatic shifts in government don't happen overnight, and it's impossible to point to any one event that brought about the demise of our constitutional republic, but many experts point to the presidential election at the turn of the century as a major contributing factor.

That was when justices for the Florida Supreme Court elected to ignore the rule of law and rendered a ruling based solely on their personal feelings.

"The right of the people to cast their ballots overshadows all other considerations," they said. Not stated, but definitely understood, was that "all other considerations" included the laws of Florida and the U.S. Constitution.

It didn't seem like much at the time. In fact, it sounded downright democratic.

But it set a precedent that was like a snowball tossed onto a loose snow bank in avalanche country.

As predicted, President Gore was unable to accomplish much administratively during his presidency. Congress was evenly divided, the nation was evenly divided, and his four years in office were mired in gridlock. But he did appoint four U.S. Supreme Court justices, justices who, like those in Florida, believed it was their duty to effect social change, not simply to interpret laws and the constitution.

And so, although radical gun control laws never were passed, presidents who followed Gore used their executive powers to take guns from citizens following a series of mass shootings, and the courts backed them up, using words like: "Reducing the number of guns in our society is of paramount importance, overshadowing all other considerations."

The courts also began to exert influence in other areas. The federal government took over whole categories of industry following a series of environmental lawsuits, and the government took over health care as well as justices opined that we should not trust our health care to the whims of private companies.

Union disputes also resulted in radical change, as major corporations were dissolved and the companies involved turned over to ownership of the workers.

This resulted in widespread violence as rival unions competed for business in a market in which high taxes reduced consumer demand considerably.

High taxes tightened Americans' wallets, and the resulting slow economy brought about less revenue for the government, not more. All government programs, including the military, suffered.

And our weakened military faced crisis after crisis overseas.

It was only a matter of time before a president felt forced to declare martial law and suspend elections, "to maintain stability in these troubled times," she said. With 90 percent of our standing armed forces engaged in conflicts abroad, her elite force of loyal body guards and border patrols were more than adequate to enforce her orders.

After a year of martial law, she declared herself president for life, invoking the fear that changing presidents would spark more unrest.

And the Supreme Court backed her up. Again, the need to maintain stability overshadowed all other considerations, including the law and the constitution and the old-fashioned idea of freedom. "Security" had become the cry of the people, not "freedom."

And so it was that the great experiment that started when a brave man penned the words "We the people" ended not with a bang but with a whimper.

It was a nice try.

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