Progressive Administrative State Has Undermined Constitutional Consent of the Governed
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Consent of the Governed | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." May 24, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
The author argues that America's founders meant 'consent of the governed' to include strict limits on government power, not just voting rights. He claims that progressive politicians starting with Woodrow Wilson have systematically destroyed these limits by centralizing power and treating rights as government gifts rather than God-given protections, and that we need to restore the original constitutional system.
Conclusion
The progressive movement, beginning with Woodrow Wilson, has fundamentally corrupted the Founders' concept of 'consent of the governed' by centralizing power and replacing natural rights with government-granted privileges, requiring a return to constitutional separation of powers and federalism
Premises
- The Founders intended 'consent of the governed' to mean limited government that protects natural rights endowed by the Creator, not just electoral democracy
- The Constitution was designed with separation of powers and federalism specifically to prevent concentrated government power from threatening individual natural rights
- Woodrow Wilson's progressive philosophy deliberately sought to centralize power and replace the Constitution's divided-power structure with expert administrative rule
- Progressive reforms since Wilson (Federal Reserve, New Deal, Great Society) have systematically undermined constitutional limits on government power
- Modern progressivism redefines rights as government-granted privileges rather than God-given natural rights, fundamentally opposing the Declaration's principles
- Historical examples like Plessy v. Ferguson show how abandoning natural rights philosophy leads to government oppression of minorities
- The constitutional framework can still be restored through its existing institutions if properly understood and implemented
Assumptions
- Natural rights exist and are endowed by God/Creator rather than granted by government
- The founders' original intent should guide constitutional interpretation
- Concentrated government power inevitably threatens individual liberty
- Expert administrative rule is inferior to constitutional governance
- The Declaration and Constitution form a coherent philosophical framework
- Historical precedent demonstrates the dangers of abandoning founding principles