WTE: Religion, federalism and a diverse press are the pillars of free society

Attorney general, Bill Barr, recently spoke to the convention of National Religious Broadcasters. This brief synopsis may prompt my readers to look up his full speech at DOJ.gov.

Barr began with the observation that politics is pervasive. It dominates, every aspect of our lives together. Not only the state house and city hall, but social media, sports and weather are politicized. This has resulted from what Barr calls, “totalitarian democracy,” that “seeks to submerge the individual in a collectivist agenda.”

“Under our system of liberal democracy,” by contrast, “the role of government is not to forcibly remake man and society.” Barr averred that it “has the far more modest purpose of preserving the proper balance of personal freedom and order necessary for a healthy civil society to develop and individual humans to flourish.”

Totalitarian democracy, “is based on the idea that man is naturally good, but has been corrupted by existing societal customs, conventions, and institutions.” It seeks to tear these down, and to remake both man and society. This project “requires an all-knowing elite,” that “relies on whipping up mass enthusiasm to preserve its power and achieve its goals.” This creates two ills that poison public life today.

First, where liberal democracy enjoys a wide variety of formal and informal communities: churches, families, neighborhoods, etc., “totalitarian democracy recognizes only one plane of existence, the political.” As the dictator Mussolini put it, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”

Second, every person’s virtue “is defined by whether they are aligned with the program.” As a result, opponents to the program are more than wrong, they are demonized as enemies of the human race.

Faced with such labels, ordinary citizens search in vain to escape the political realm. Unfavored speech, even unfavored thought is villainized and chased from public life. Totalitarian democracy has sown incivility from the classroom to the board room. There are, however, “three bulwarks” that Barr believes capable of defending our communities from this rising flood.

Religion is the first and most vital undergirding of liberal democracy. As John Adams put it: “We have no government armed with the power which is capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”

“In the first place,” says Barr, “it allows us to limit the role of government by cultivating internal moral values.” There is no power on earth that is capable of restraining human evil. Even the most detailed legislation and the most powerful police force cannot prop up a society of cowards, thieves, adulterers and murderers.

In the second place, religion cultivates humility. Pride believes that all evil is “out there” in the “system” and in political opponents. Humility sees “that the right way to transform the world is for each of us to focus on morally transforming ourselves.”

Third, religion presses us to “Remember, Man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.” This prevents politics from becoming the be-all and end-all of human existence.

Decentralized power is the second bulwark against totalitarian democracy. “The framers believed in the principle of subsidiarity,” said Barr, namely, “that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest competent authority that was closest to the people.”

Subsidiarity makes federalism more than just a localized exercise of a federal power. It means that citizens live under multiple sovereigns (state, federal, county, municipal). Free communities govern themselves to the greatest extent possible.

One of the greatest causes of “our current acrimonious politics,” says Barr, is that the powers “imposed from outside by a remote central government… undercut a sense of community and give rise to alienation.”

The revitalization of constitutional government requires principled and tireless local officials who will fight every attempt to move government power up the chain. School boards must jealously guard their authority to set policy and curriculum. Cities and states must oppose every scheme that taxes their citizens and gives the money back with strings attached.

Finally, Barr turned his attention to the free press. It is necessary because “the press” is not ordained to the high priesthood of truth. Reporters are just as likely to be deceived as anyone. Therefore, a free society doesn’t need a monolithic press corps controlled by media conglomerates. Rather, it needs in every town independent newspapers that criticize one another. That is the true diversity that can keep a people free.

All three of these institutions, religion, decentralized government and a free press, grow out of a true understanding of human nature. A just and free society is built on self-control and on institutions designed to frustrate those who will not exercise it.

Also published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on March 13, 2020.