I have been intrigued by the recent activity aimed at normalizing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as if it is outdated and must be amended from time to time.  People seem to have forgotten the most basic principle that has made America the preeminent power in the world. For those who seem to have forgotten, that principle is the preservation, within the law, of the freedom and initiative of every individual citizen.

This principle underlies the genius of the founders and the Constitution they created. The founders were diligent students of history and they understood that the decline of every powerful nation comes from the overwhelming accumulation of power at the top of a centralized bureaucracy, with the commensurate loss of control at the local and individual-citizen level. No one person or group of people at the top can efficiently control an entire population. This guidance unleashed the initial era of American creativity, invention, and innovation, and was instrumental in the growth and power of America for 150 years.

This allocation of control down to the lowest possible level has been gradually eroded ever since the early 20th century, beginning with the administrations of Woodrow Wilson (generally recognized as the original “Progressive”) and FDR. And in the 21st century, the political collusion between the FBI, the CIA, and the Obama administration to slander then candidate Trump with known false Russian collusion claims further centralized federal power and control.

But the most recent and perhaps the most egregious and obvious violation of the Constitution has been done by the Justice Department in the person of Attorney General Merrick Garland. He has threatened with FBI investigation parent citizens attending local school board meetings who are in conflict with school board members over the injection of Critical Race Theory (CRT) into curricula. This is certainly an issue that can and should be handled by local authorities if necessary. It seems obvious that there is an agenda being pushed and most blatantly, the FBI and the Justice department have been politicized. The intimidation is palpable. It has been revealed that Garland’s son-in-law, Xan Tanner, is the co-founder of Panorama Education, an organization which specializes in the creation of material for school systems, including CRT material. This whole episode is clearly a violation of the 10th amendment as well as a disgraceful conflict of interest.

The solution? Many more citizens should begin to understand that within the Constitution lies the source of America’s strength America’s virtue and America’s freedom.

George Coyne ’61
Newtown Square, Pa.