Arbitrary Power: The Definition of Tyranny
“The curse and scandal of human nature.” That’s how James Otis, Jr. described arbitrary power. It wasn’t just a sign of tyranny, or a step toward it. It was the very definition of tyranny. It is power without right. And that principle pervades the Declaration of...
Not Just Bad Policy: The Founders Called it Treason and War
Treason. Invasion. Conquest. That’s how the Founders and old revolutionaries described usurpation – power stolen, not delegated. And it wasn’t just rhetoric. It was a foundational, and now-forgotten principle at the very heart of the American Revolution. When...
Oath to the Constitution: What Adherence Truly Means
“If their duty, their honor, and their oaths will not bind them, let us not put into their hands our liberty and all our other great interests.” These are the powerful words of Gouverneur Morris, the “Penman of the Constitution” and author of...