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Is the American Experiment In Danger?

Troublesome Trends

Today I'm departing from my typical focus on leadership to look at the socio-political backdrop against which American leaders do their work.

And I'm choosing a title which borrows from the way Will Rogers once described America. One of the first Americans to visit Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution, he was asked by the press to offer his impression of Russia.

Rogers answered, "They are the greatest experiment on Earth — except for us."

In this podcast I share my concern that this grand experiment may be in danger. Ominous trends point in that direction. Not the least of these is the diminishing level of respect for the courts. Today that respect is the lowest that it has ever been.

Why is this dangerous? Because the U.S. Constitution makes the courts our safeguard against the exercise of raww power as the means of resolving disagreements. The Constitution makes all power &mdash political, military, or otherwise —subservient to principle. Principles agreed to by all set defined limits on power. And the courts are the arbiters to decide how these principles are to be interpreted and applied.

It is this subjection of power to principle which is the essence of the American experiment. The experiment remains workable only so long as all parties respect that decisions of the court. Yet, there are increasing signs that this respect has been seriously injured. What that implies for our nation is the theme of today's podcast.