The etymology of the word federalism is interesting. It comes from the Latin foederis, which literally means “covenant”. And there are a few things we need to remember about covenants that really matter.
First, covenants are not just promises, but they are agreements between parties with promises and limitations. Sometimes those limitations are expressed as punishments; often they are framed as limits on power or prestige.
Second, covenants not only apply to those who make them, but to their progeny as well. The descendants of a covenanter inherit the obligations, limitation, and promises of the covenant.
Third, covenants cannot be left by one party; all parties to a covenant must agree to leave the covenant together. It should be noted that covenants aren’t just among a couple of the parties, but ALL the parties. Just because one party may violate the covenant that does not obviate the covenant.
Fourth, covenants were ordained by God; the first was with Adam in the Garden of Eden, and thus covenants are always made before God, even when he isn’t a direct party to it.
So, you might ask, “what does this mean for me?” As a citizen of the United States, it should mean a whole lot to you. The Constitution is a covenant. But it is a covenant between the states (and the people of the several states) that creates a national government.
We do not hear this from our national politicians. Instead, we hear debates about “originalism” versus the “living constitution”; the policy role of the legislature versus the policy role of the courts; the role of the Senate in advice and consent versus the President in nomination; the difference in treatment of nominees depending on who controls the Judiciary Committee versus who they are nominated by. In other words, we hear about the outcomes of covenant, but never about covenant!
Never do we hear “how will the nominee affirm the covenant”? Sure, they take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend that covenant, but how will they preserve, protect, and defend it according to their covenant obligations? I would love to see that happen. Because that begs the question: what is the actual covenant? Great question, I know. You see, things like precedent, philosophy, background, previous statements, etc. are meaningless apart from the meaning of the actual covenant.
For example, think about secession. Do you know why secession was judged illegal? Not because the Union won the war! Because one cannot leave a covenant. The entire body of covenanters must agree to dissolve the covenant; that never happened. That is why Lincoln and his supporters thought preservation of the Union was so important: it preserved the covenant. They did not do away with states’ rights, but the covenant did hold that no state’s rights were above the rest! They fought the Civil War from the perspective of preserving the covenant.
Why was Dredd Scott wrong? Or Plessy v Ferguson? Or Korematsu? Because each fundamentally changed the relationship between the states and the national government, where the states were carrying out the will of the national government.
Why is Roe wrong? Or Casey? Or Obergefell? Because each changed dramatically the relationship of the states to the national government, each places the supremacy of national policy over the covenant!
The United States Constitution is a three-part document: the Preamble, the Articles & Amendments, and the End (closing and signatures). The Preamble contains the promises of the covenant.
The Articles & Amendments contain the limitation on power and prestige of the created national government. And the end contains the binding promise of the signatories and their descendants.
When the Constitution was written and enacted, George Washington’s great fear was of what he called factionalism. It is easy enough to dismiss this as mere regionalism. But Washington’s great fear was realized as the hopeful politics of those days descended quickly into very real divisions not just of geography but of party. And party quickly came to dominate, even moving the importance of the states from pre-eminence over the national government to subservience to the national government and servant of the parties.
It has become clear in later years that our covenant has been dangerously damaged by the rise of party over the interests of the state and the desire of national politicians over the people. The popular election of Senators, the national income tax, and the massive growth of the Executive (matched by a pusillanimous surrender of the power of Congress).
The question becomes how long the Christians in this nation will continue to support such an abrogation of their God-given rights. Christians need to realize that the covenant that creates the Constitution needs to be enforced and carried out. We currently are not. We are accepting the weakening of our structures and our foundations by letting the progressive left dramatically change definitions. By letting them change definitions, we cede to them the battlefield, and eventually we cede to the covenant, too.
We need to stop doing that.