Guardians of Liberty: Trump and the Constitution

Article author: 
Susan Lawson
Article publisher: 
American Thinker
Article date: 
19 February 2025
Article category: 
Our American Future
Medium
Article Body: 

The United States was born not just in rebellion against a distant monarch, but in revolt against tyranny itself. The Founding Fathers put their lives, property, wealth, and honor on the line to establish a great nation based on freedom, liberty, and self-governance...

The Founders’ Sacrifices

The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the framers of the Constitution faced enormous dangers... These men were greatly influenced by classical philosophy and the plight for sovereignty in ancient Greece, Rome, and England. They read Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, and Locke and used these thinkers to forge a government based on natural rights and individual liberty...

Plato in his Republic imagined a just society where rulers cared more about virtue and the common good than their personal ambition. The Founders strongly resonated with his belief that government ought to reflect moral and philosophical principles...

The Magna Carta, signed by King John of England in 1215, established limited government and the rule of law...

John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Government” elaborates on these notions. Locke asserts that government exists strictly to preserve life, liberty, and property, and when it ceases to do so, citizens have the authority to change or eliminate it...

The Constitution: A Defense Against Tyranny

They designed a constitution that was a miracle of checks and balances. It separated powers among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches so that no single branch could control the government. Federalism further diffused power and authority across the national government and the states...

For all its controversies, Trump’s presidency served as a reminder of the enduring struggle to preserve the ideals of the Constitution...

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