Randall Balmer suggested that the Separation of Church and State was “America’s best idea.” But near the very top of America’s list of best ideas should be the Separation of Powers, the Balance of Powers, Checks and Balances, a tripartite government of legislative, executive and judicial, which became the Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court.
The genius who fathered this ingenuous structure for America was John Adams. When drafting the 1780 State Constitution for Massachusetts (the first written constitution ever!), Adams insisted this separation was crucial for Democracy to flourish. Virginia followed suit (led by James Madison, who later championed it in our nation’s Constitution), declaring “that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct.”
This was unique, unheard of at the time! Gordon Wood (in his 1972 book, Creation of the American Republic) reminds us why this was important: “When Americans in 1776 spoke of keeping the several parts of the government separate and distinct, they were primarily thinking of insulating the judiciary from executive manipulations.” Jack Rakove (in his 1996 book Original Meanings) put it more strongly by declaring that “the evisceration of executive power was the most conspicuous aspect of the early state constitutions, which deprived the executive of its political independence and nearly every power that smacked of royal prerogative.”
When I took Citizenship in the 8th grade (is that still a course? Should be…), I recall being impressed and oddly relieved that this was our system of government, and that in fact it was in the very DNA of America to spread power around, to keep anyone or any group from wielding too much power to the disadvantage of others. What I could not have anticipated at such a tender age was that I would grow up to become a pastor and a theologian, and to comprehend how theologically wise we are to have checks and balances, and never to vest too much authority in one person.
The first book I would write after I got out of school thankfully didn’t see the light of day. My ideas, my readings of the Bible, were spot on. But my writing was garbled jibberish. The title? “Power and Faith,” and I traced in Scripture how the powerless usually are quite faithful to God, but as anyone garners more power, he (it was men, not women) became less faithful and in fact more corrupt. David as a little boy relies on God and amazes everyone. Once he seized the throne, his morals plunged downhill. We always think someone can accumulate power and still be humble and holy. But power really does corrupt. The lesson of the Lord of the Rings is that the ring of power really must be destroyed before it possesses another victim who will victimize others.
C.S. Lewis, as is often the case, is a wise tutor on these matters. Why did he believe in our need for Democracy? It is “because I believe in the Fall of Man.” That is, all people are broken, sinful, prone to wander, trying to be God while utterly laughable at their lunges toward being God.
Lewis acknowledges that many believe in Democracy “because they think mankind to be so wise and good that everyone deserves a share in government. The real reason for Democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.” In another book he outlines how people have two opposite reasons for supporting Democracy: “You may think all men so good that they deserve a share in the government of the commonwealth, and so wise that the commonwealth needs their advice. That is, in my opinion, the false, romantic doctrine of democracy. On the other hand, you may believe fallen men to be so wicked that not one of them can be trusted with any irresponsible power over his fellows.”
Adams and Madison weren’t looking much to Scripture when advocating for limits to power, the separation and balance of powers. Their intellectual heroes in this were the French philosopher Baron de Montesquieu and the Englishman John Locke (and even Aristotle!). How good of God to enlighten and inspire all manner of wise thinkers so they might resonate with what is in God’s most loving blueprint for humanity. Power is fitting for God alone. What must be wielded on God’s behalf down here is best distributed broadly and never overly concentrated in any one person.