T HERE IS A TWILIGHT WAR being waged to control and shrink the leviathan state a state that threatens the constitutional order that defends Americans liberty. C. S. Lewis described this peculiarly modern threat in an introduction to the 1961 edition of The Screwtape Letters: The greatest evil is not done now in those sordid dens of crime that Dickens loved to paint. It is not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in clear, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.
On the night in 1972 when Richard Nixon won a landslide presidential reelection, the then-Governor of California and future president Ronald Reagan told United Press International, There is evidence of a developing philosophy in the United States against the growth of big government, costs and influence. I think many Democrats had second thoughts in the direction that the country was going and decided it was the wrong way. Mr. Nixon is a man who wants to decentralize federal power and I think that most of the country agrees with that philosophy.
Echoing this in his inaugural address in 2017, President Donald Trump declared, we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People. For too long, a small group in our nations Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nations Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
While the presidents critics reflect with intoxicated self-satisfaction on the sound and fury of The Resistance, the president and his supporters have won some durable political victories despite unyielding opposition. By every measure of personal and national prosperity, the United States is better off now than it was before Donald Trump was elected. Gone is the lofty sounding rhetoric of globalism that led to unwinnable foreign wars and open borders. Back is talk of how government can serve the people and what we can do together as Americans.
By every measure of personal and national prosperity, the United States is better off now than it was before Donald Trump was elected.
But youd hardly be able to learn of his accomplishments by watching cable news. These allegedly non-partisan organs of the press continue indulging their perverse obsessions with Russian conspiracy theories, West Wing intrigue, and the presidents Twitter feed. Its exhausting and also largely beside the point.
Also conspicuous in the commentary surrounding the Trump administration are the dogs that havent barked. These are the predictions of imminent calamity certain to accompany a Trump presidency that have, happily, failed to materialize. For one, nuclear war has not broken out, despite this being one of Trump detractors favorite predictions. Nor has the president sold the country down the river to Vladimir Putin; he hasnt ignored court orders, hasnt shut down the free press, and hasnt fired Robert Mueller. Of course, Muellers perfidy may yet demand action.
After more than a year of peace and prosperity, more people are likely to believe that such outlandish predictions tell us less about the president and more about the temperament of his critics. Hillary Clinton and Jill Stein went into federal court immediately after the 2016 election alleging vote tampering. Their suits were promptly dismissed, often in withering decisions from the judges, for lack of evidence. There was, however, evidence of Democrat voter fraud in places like the Detroit precincts that went heavily for Hillary so heavily in fact that there were more votes cast than there were registered voters. The Russia collusion story keeps changing because it is a hoax. But the Russia narrative isnt really about Russia or even about Donald Trump. Its about relitigating the 2016 election. Its about the permanent political class defending its power and prerogatives by any means necessary.
Despite the sustained assault from enemies far and wide determined to render his election moot, President Trump is governing. His supporters often cite achievements like Neil Gorsuch and a raft of solid judicial appointments, tax reform, and the enforcement of immigration laws. More subtle observers note that Trump has confronted the stifling anti-rational orthodoxy of political correctness, with Trump usually coming out the winner. And of course theres the signal victory evident even to his fiercest critics: hes not Hillary Clinton.
Behind the scenes, the president is reducing regulation, shrinking the deep state, and enlarging the role of the citizen. As the English philosopher and critic of the French Enlightenment Nick Land explains, From Thomas Hobbes to Hans-Hermann Hoppe and beyond, [concerned citizens ask]: How can the sovereign power be prevented or at least dissuaded from devouring society? Its a good question. In fact, its the question behind every critique offered and fear harbored of the deep state.
Trumps pushback against the stultifying political correctness that chills free expression and thereby undermines the foundation of free government is part of these efforts and is a precondition for any permanent reduction in the size of the state. We must first be able to name a problem before we can expect to solve it. His other successes have been catalogued, celebrated, and huzzahed elsewhere. And, well, should they be. They represent very real triumphs by the Trump administration on behalf of a citizenry that has been harassed, hectored, and oppressed by a growing, omnivorous leviathan state. If we have not quite had our substance eaten out, its not for the governments lack of trying.
For years, Republican voters were promised constitutionalist judges, fiscal probity, and immigration enforcement. We got John Obamacare Roberts, runaway deficits, de facto open borders, and multiple tries at Gang of Eight amnesty. If that wasnt enough, we were led into a series of misguided wars by a small but determined foreign policy claque focused on implementing a policy of moral imperialism that runs counter to Americas history and values.
The Gordian knot of modern government is the leviathan state. Trump, like Alexander, has a solution: dont try and untie it, just take a big whack at it.
