Publisher takes course on history

My wife and I recently took an online course regarding our Constitution from Hillsdale College. Hillsdale College is a private Christian College in Hillsdale, Michigan.

They frequently offer online courses taught by the same professors who teach students in the normal classroom setting. Over the past few years, we have taken advantage of their programs. Most have been about the history of the United States.

These courses are free. All you do is sign up and begin watching. One advantage to us is there is no test or final exams. Just interesting information.

We have just completed a 12-week session: “Constitution 101. The meaning and History of the Constitution.”

It included information regarding who were the framers, how it was written, who wrote it, and what advantages our Constitution gives us citizens as opposed to other forms of government.

When it was written the framers wanted to make sure that our government was inclusive and would not penalize the citizens like the countries that our founding forefathers escaped by coming to America.

Two of the latter lessons were most informative regarding the direction some of our political leaders would like to take our country. Hillsdale refers to the changes as the “Administrative State,” lead by the so-called Progressives ideology.

The Administrative State started with the administration of Franklin Roosevelt many years ago. And various other political leaders have continued to move our country in the Progressive direction.

Originally persons in the House of Representatives and the Senate made the laws and the rules and regulations as set forth in the Constitution.

The progressives felt that our elected leaders needed to turn much of their responsibility to the Administrative State. Elected leaders are not experts, or independent of government interference or are not Progressive enough to know what is best.

This led to the setting up of many government agencies that now take on the responsibility rather than the elected officials.

According to Merriam Webster progressive means “making use of or interested in new ideas, findings or opportunities.”

Some political leaders referred this to “founding versus modern world.” In their opinion the Constitution as written placing too many limits on what politicians can do so they turn it over to the so-called experts.

You probably remember a few years ago when Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said, “We have to pass this new bill to know what is in it.”

She was being truthful since the new bill was written by the Administrative State and not limited by the constitution.

The late Groucho Marx famously quipped that “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

If he were alive today, I wonder what he would now say about our Administrative State.