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Wealth & Poverty Review Saving America Requires Unprecedented Engagement by the Citizens

Originally published at Townhall

Everyone can see the deteriorating state of governability and order in the United States. A good starting point for understanding this disarray can be found in the wisdom of Reformation leader John Calvin, who asserted that “when God wants to judge a nation, he gives them wicked rulers.” Thomas Jefferson, the author of the American Declaration of Independence, expressed a similar view when he said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”

The United States was considered a model “Redeemer Nation” and “A City on a Hill” for most of its history. The early American idealism that prevailed into the 1960s through the civil rights movement was based on two premises:

  1. A consensus that idealism starts with recognizing the flawed nature of man, which needs to be grafted to a higher moral order and framework—most fully realized by the Biblical savior providing not only spiritual redemption, but also a family model, intergenerational continuity and relational values based on respect, tolerance, and love. 
  2. A recognition that idealism was rooted in and contingent on a social contract established by the consent of the people whose rights and freedoms came from God, but which also entailed responsible civil behavior and an orientation to give back to society and create value. 

After the 1960s, we heard a lot more from those proclaiming that America is now a post-Christian nation. But history reveals that Christianity was not only the driving force behind the establishment of each of the original thirteen colonies, but it was also central in the founding by bringing those colonies together to form a nation. Christianity was later the driving force that ended the scourge of slavery and child labor, established, and built universities and hospitals and elevated the position of women in society. And when full emancipation of slavery was not realized because of Jim Crow laws and segregation, it was again Christians who led the civil rights movement in America in the 1960s.

One of the benefits of passing through very troubled times as we are experiencing now, is that we are compelled to see more clearly who and what is wrong and unjust, and who and what parties should be voted out of office if our nation is to survive and recover the rule of law under the Constitution.

The genius of America’s Constitution is two-fold: First, it created multiple layers of checks and balances to mitigate abuse of power and; Second, it provided for frequent elections that gave the people direct access to reform government through the vote to remove elected individuals in government who failed to solve problems and make the people’s lives better. The founders had no illusions that people would take much interest in the details of public policy, but they trusted the people’s ability to vote based on their common sense and ability to grasp whether their elected officials were succeeding or failing to make their lives better. 

Today, our problems are compounded by corruption of those administering our elections on many levels and jurisdictions. We also have an unprecedented amount of corruption in both major political parties. Beyond the corruption in the White House, there are many Democrats and some Republicans serving in the U.S. Congress that are compromised by special interests and worse. There are surely others who are captured by deep state globalists hostile to the United States. They should all be voted out of office. 

Any candidate or member of Congress who is not on record for securing our southern border is not worthy of the people’s vote. 

Any member of or candidate for Congress who would favor surrendering U.S. sovereignty to the World Health Organization (WHO) and its latest Accord to control health care policy in sovereign states—without a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate—should be disqualified from serving in Congress. 

Any candidate or member of the U.S. Congress who does not take an active stand against cultural Marxism and its various curricula in public schools is not worthy of the American people’s vote.

Similarly, any candidate or member of the U.S. Congress who supports weakening the military by subjecting it to the training and protocols of Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is not worthy of the people’s vote.

Any member of Congress who does not support the first ten Constitutional amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights, should be voted out of office. 

Any candidate or member of the U.S. Congress who does not take a strong and substantive stand for election integrity and against polling place practices associated with vote fraud should be disqualified from running for public office.

Any member of the U.S. Congress who does not support families against overreach by the medical-industrial complex—whether in the form of mandatory medicine, vaccinations, or transgender sex change procedures—should not be serving the public. 

Any candidate or member of Congress who does not support the police and law enforcement should get no support from the people.

Any candidate or member of Congress who will not commit to restoring equal justice before the law should be disqualified from serving in public office. 

Any candidate or member of Congress who will not commit to deficit reduction is part of the problem and should not receive the people’s support and vote. 

In summary, regardless of previous party affiliation, citizens need to act now to help save America. And getting involved with ensuring local, state, and national election integrity and getting people out to vote are some of the best things we can do. It is past time to act and repudiate mob rule and high-level corruption that has brought us to the present state of disfunction–severely impairing the proper functioning of our three branches of government, and most of our government agencies. To get started, we need to ensure election integrity and support the election of people unconditionally committed to their oaths of office.

Scott S. Powell

Senior Fellow, Center on Wealth and Poverty
Scott Powell has enjoyed a career split between theory and practice with over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and rainmaker in several industries. He joins the Discovery Institute after having been a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution for six years and serving as a managing partner at a consulting firm, RemingtonRand. His research and writing has resulted in over 250 published articles on economics, business and regulation. Scott Powell graduated from the University of Chicago with honors (B.A. and M.A.) and received his Ph.D. in political and economic theory from Boston University in 1987, writing his dissertation on the determinants of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth.