Glenn Ellmers has done it again, with a new provocation that “the constitutional republic created by our founders no longer exists.” His article posted at American Greatness, “Hard Truths and Radical Possibilities,” backs up this startling proposition with five very stark supporting arguments, starting with the fact that elections no longer suffice to control our government (even if they are fair and above reproach). Elections are now a mere nuisance—barely a speed bump—for the administrative state that is determined to rule us regardless of the opinions of the American people. Neither political competence in the ordinary sense nor “normal politics” are sufficient to remedy the crisis we are in:

Our current woke oligarchy becomes more fanatical every month, yet instead of getting weaker or provoking a popular backlash, it seems to grow ever stronger. In part, this is because the elites have maintained a semblance of institutional normalcy. No matter how extreme its policies—COVID lockdowns, chemical or surgical castration of children, open borders—the ruling class carries on with a kind of constitutional kabuki theater. Citizens (or rather “people”) vote, Congress meets and passes “laws,” the president pontificates and signs documents. It is largely just a performance; it certainly doesn’t resemble government functioning as the founders intended. But it looks close enough to the real thing to persuade many people that the situation, if not perfect, is at least tolerable. There is just enough veneer of Our Democracy™ to keep most citizens from acting on their dissatisfactions and justified fears.

Lucretia joins Steve in walking through Glenn’s arguments, including a couple of even more radical arguments not included in the original article.  Much food for thought here.

For thematic exit music, I dropped in “Don’t Misunderstand Me” from the brief-lived Rossington Collins Band of the 1980s.

 

Subscribe to Power Line in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.

There are 10 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Wonderful interview @stevenhayward on a topic that needs to be addressed. Glenn would make a great guest for the flagship podcast.

    • #1
  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Not voting en mass is the most stupid thing I have ever heard. Give away all possible power and be utterly at the mercy of the liberal state. 

    Foolish and stupid. 

    If voting does not work, then there is only one thing left.

     

    • #2
  3. Quickz Member
    Quickz
    @Quickz

    This was outstanding. Yes, Glenn Ellmers needs to be on the flagship podcast – bigly!

    • #3
  4. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    I am not sure what to make of sending federal employees who screwup to Fairbanks, AK.  What do you expect us to do with them?

    We have enough problems with overbearing federal employees without your sending more of them to our town.

    I’ll add that per-capita Alaska seems to be second in the number of public employees per-capita behind Wyoming.

    But this part of a larger issue, making it too hard to fire federal civil service workers.  So that’s why Fairbanks has to suffer.

    • #4
  5. Steven Hayward Podcaster
    Steven Hayward
    @StevenHayward

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    I am not sure what to make of sending federal employees who screwup to Fairbanks, AK. What do you expect us to do with them?

    We have enough problems with overbearing federal employees without your sending more of them to our town.

    I’ll add that per-capita Alaska seems to be second in the number of public employees per-capita behind Wyoming.

    But this part of a larger issue, making it too hard to fire federal civil service workers. So that’s why Fairbanks has to suffer.

    Well, you could expand hunting season.

    • #5
  6. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    I am not sure what to make of sending federal employees who screwup to Fairbanks, AK. What do you expect us to do with them?.

    Feed them to the wolves. Send them on long hikes across the tundra in winter. Have them roll barrels of crude oil down from the north.

    • #6
  7. LibertyDefender Member
    LibertyDefender
    @LibertyDefender

    Steve’s mention that 8 of the 10 counties nationally with highest median income surround Washington DC resonates – and especially Loudoun County, the county with the highest median income nationally. In a sane world, no one would know anything about Loudoun County but its residents and neighbors. It should be a prosperous farming county, but not home to those Americans with the highest median income.

    But it was Glenn’s mention of Loudoun County that triggered my PTSD as a recent Northern Virginia escapee. Glenn is 100% correct that the Loudoun County Public Schools administrators lied to parents about high school girls getting raped in the bathrooms and locker rooms of the Loudoun County public high schools. In one case, the rapist was transferred to a different high school where he raped again. The father of one of the rape victims was arrested when he verbally protested at a school board meeting.

    Why the fathers of Loudoun County schoolgirls do not March on the superintendent’s office with pitchforks and torches, and tar and feather the fargin’ bastige every day is a mystery to me. I fear that the answer is a more extreme version of why Michiganders voted for the tyrant who locked them up during CoViD.

    • #7
  8. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):
    Why the fathers of Loudoun County schoolgirls do not March on the superintendent’s office with pitchforks and torches, and tar and feather the fargin’ bastige every day is a mystery to me. I fear that the answer is a more extreme version of why Michiganders voted for the tyrant who locked them up during CoViD.

    Your comparing the use (or non-use) of illegal violence with the failure to vote out the scoundrel.

    From what I can remember of the Louden County situation, I think I concluded that the principal involved that didn’t notify the police should have been prosecuted and jailed.  And if the Superintendent was also a part of the notification chain, he too should have been jailed.

    • #8
  9. LibertyDefender Member
    LibertyDefender
    @LibertyDefender

    Al Sparks (View Comment):

    LibertyDefender (View Comment):
    Why the fathers of Loudoun County schoolgirls do not March on the superintendent’s office with pitchforks and torches, and tar and feather the fargin’ bastige every day is a mystery to me. I fear that the answer is a more extreme version of why Michiganders voted for the tyrant who locked them up during CoViD.

    Your comparing the use (or non-use) of illegal violence with the failure to vote out the scoundrel.

    From what I can remember of the Louden County situation, I think I concluded that the principal involved that didn’t notify the police should have been prosecuted and jailed. And if the Superintendent was also a part of the notification chain, he too should have been jailed.

    My comparing suggested that one might be an extreme version of the other. It’s not a 1:1 comparison.

    My point is a commentary on what I would think is an instinctive, visceral reaction of every father of a daughter. Why aren’t they at least perpetually protesting at the Loudoun County Public Schools administration building (where Glenn Youngkin held a victory rally the day after he was elected Governor of Virginia)? Why aren’t they continually demanding the arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment of the Superintendent and the Principal?

    I’m distressed by the . . . complacency is too generous a word . . . of the Loudoun County parents, especially the dads.

    I’m also distressed that I’ve heard several mothers of daughters testify that they would not care if their daughters’ high schools permitted the boys to use the girls’ locker room.

    This abandonment of basic, instinctive parental obligation is societal suicide. Is it an extreme version of Stockholm Syndrome, which might be an explanation for the re-election of Gov. Whitmer?

    I don’t want to live in a society where parents sacrifice their own children – and are not only permitted to do so, but are encouraged to do so. Surrendering children to radical transgender policies is sacrificing children.

    • #9
  10. Ernst Rabbit von Hasenpfeffer Member
    Ernst Rabbit von Hasenpfeffer
    @ape2ag

    Did Trump listen to this podcast?  I don’t think this helps his 2024 election chances but it is a nod towards delegitimizing the regime.

    • #10
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.