Living in a Precarious (and Post-Constitutional) Political Age

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Almost ten years ago I began to mention to a good friend that I felt like the tectonic plates were shifting under our feet. Of course I am speaking in a metaphorical way. But I was trying to describe to my friend my sense of a loss of balance in trying to read the signs of the times. For an academic, this is indeed unsettling. That sense of unease has not really abated almost ten years later.

Certainly 2020, George Floyd, Antifa, BLM, and Covid did little to help things. And now we are on the cusp of the 2024 election. And Evangelicals, it seems to me, have shifted, or are shifting. And assuredly the events of 2020 and following play their part.

During each election cycle (and I believe this is the case since I would have first been able to vote in a presidential election in 1984), Christians (at least most traditional or generally conservative Christians) are generally told that the decision is between a party that is generally way off base (the Democrats) and a party that is less than perfect, but the better option (the Republicans). In short, the Republicans are less than ideal, but they are better than the Democrats. This is fair enough. In the current iteration of the Democrat Party, there are plenty of reasons not to vote for the Democrat Party—particularly for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. At present, the Democrat Party is fully committed to:

  • Full-scale support of abortion (including, generally, government funding).
  • Full-scale support of homosexuality.
  • Full-scale support of the trans movement.
  • Full-scale support of an open border.
  • Full-scale support of various efforts to centralize power due to the “threat” of climate change.
  • Supporting the right of public schools to not inform parents of their children’s supposed confusion on “gender.”
  • Full-scale support of unhelpful and divisive racial ideology, as well as “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.”

Republicans at their best counter the Democrats on these issues—but not always so. But in a truly astounding turn in recent weeks, some Democrats are saying the quiet part out loud: it is also time to restrict speech. For those who have been paying attention, this is not a surprise at all. Indeed midway through Biden’s term there were the beginnings of establishing an Office of Disinformation, which undoubtedly would have been advocating severe limitations on free speech. And clips of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Kamala Harris, and Tim Walz can be easily found online, where they are justifying clamping down on free speech in the name of stopping “disinformation” or “misinformation.” As Matt Taibi recently asked on his and Walter Kirn’s show, “America This Week”: “Are there any liberals left?” (America This Week, September 23, 2024). So, I think a case can easily be made that a Christian cannot in good faith support the Democrat Party, especially in terms of the current presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

But I also want to suggest that both parties share an awful lot. The main thing they share is straightforward: Neither party is really committed to the constitutional order laid out in the U.S. Constitution. This may sound counter-intuitive, but give me a moment. Article I, Section 8 lays out the role and authority of the U.S. Congress. Article II, Section 2 lays out the role and authority of the President. Article III, Sections 2 and 3 lay out the role and authority of the judicial power—at the federal level. Take the role and authority of Congress. Article I, Section 8 is clear that Congress has certain delegated authority. That is, the States gave Congress its delegated authority through the vehicle of the U.S. Constitution. And the Tenth Amendment makes it clear: “The Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or the people.” Note the logic here: the Federal Government (including Congress) have only those powers “delegated” to it. All other powers remain with the States, or the people.

It is clear that the Democratic Party is not interested in abiding by the constitutional constraints on power. For example, when Obamacare was being debated and considered, Nancy Pelosi was asked by a reporter where the Constitution gave Congress the authority to engage in such sweeping legislation, she simply scoffed at the reporter and asked, “Are you serious?” And well she should have, in a sense. This is because neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have been committed—for a very long time—to the constraints on power outlined in the Constitution.

Try an experiment for a week, or month, or several months. Every time you read about Congress passing legislation, or the President issuing an “Executive Order,” or the Supreme Court issuing a decision, ask one question: Does the Constitution give the respective branch the authority to make such a decision? Here is what I predict: You will find that in virtually every act (whether of Congress, or the President, or the Supreme Court) you will discover that the respective branch simply did not have the Constitutional authority to act.

And once one makes that discovery, things can be a bit uncomfortable. “You mean . . . uh . . . I live in a situation where all the high-sounding talk about ‘democracy’ and ‘the constitution’ is virtually meaningless?” Yes, I do. And it is uncomfortable. The Anti-Federalists saw this. They warned that the Constitution would not be able to restrain government power, and that there would be no way to constrain the Federal Government if the Constitution was adopted. And they were right.

But let me end with some good news. There is hope. If God can raise the dead, he can bring reformation and revival to the United States. Christianity once inspired our forebears to limit government, to think in terms of human liberty—and hence the need for limited, constitutional government. God can do a great work in our country, and lead people to think again in more explicitly theologically-informed ways about the nature of political order. This will likely take quite a long time. Our founders thought in terms of a principled limitation on power, and they were at least partly animated by a certain conviction: Given the sinfulness of all persons, it is wise to decentralize and limit political power. Our forebears also recognized that society is not equal to (civil) government. That is, one can believe that society should “do something” without believing that the (civil) government ought to “do something.” And I put “civil” in parentheses to make a basic point: Our forebears recognized that there were multiple legitimate “governments”: the individual, the family, the church, and the civil magistrate. That basic insight will likely take time to recover, but such an insight could emerge again as basic biblical principles begin go develop in the citizenry as churches are planted, the Scriptures are preached, and lives (and minds) are transformed. May God bring it about.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author

  • Brad Green

    Bradley G. Green is Professor of Theological Studies at Union University (Jackson, TN), and is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY) . He is the author of several articles and books, including The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life (Crossway); Covenant and Commandment: Works, Obedience, and Faithfulness in the Christian Life (New Studies in Biblical Theology, IVP); Augustine: His Life and Impact (Christian Focus). Brad is a member of First Baptist Church (Jackson, TN), where he works with college students.

Picture of Brad Green

Brad Green

Bradley G. Green is Professor of Theological Studies at Union University (Jackson, TN), and is Professor of Philosophy and Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY) . He is the author of several articles and books, including The Gospel and the Mind: Recovering and Shaping the Intellectual Life (Crossway); Covenant and Commandment: Works, Obedience, and Faithfulness in the Christian Life (New Studies in Biblical Theology, IVP); Augustine: His Life and Impact (Christian Focus). Brad is a member of First Baptist Church (Jackson, TN), where he works with college students.