Built-in safeguards?

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views October 15, 2001]

"Prophets of doom" are commonly held in derision, but they are often right. In fact they sometimes understate the worst possibilities, and events show not that they were correct, but that history held grim surprises even for those who were trying to imagine what could go wrong. Time may make a Cassandra look like a cockeyed optimist.

Opponents of the U.S. Constitution feared that it would result in big government. They couldn't dream how big the federal government would actually become, far exceeding in size, scope, and power what had been called the "tyranny" of George III. Nor did they foresee such collateral results as the Civil War and U.S. involvement in two world wars.

If those pessimists said to us now, "Well, we tried to warn you," defenders of the Constitution might reply that these things happened because the Constitution was abandoned or perverted. The pessimists might fairly argue: "But you said it was a foolproof plan! You said its built-in safeguards would prevent the centralization of power! Evidently you were wrong."

-- Joseph Sobran, excerpt from "Great Mistakes and Great Men," Sobran's newsletter, October 2001. For the most candid insights on culture, government and society, subscribe to Sobran's.

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