The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

no longer fits our present conditions and
aspirations as a great and active world-power, and
should not be permitted to stand in our way. Those
who say so forget that it is still our Constitution;
that while it exists, its provisions as interpreted by
our highest judicial tribunal are binding upon our
actions as well as upon our consciences; that they
will be binding, and must be observed until they
are changed in the manner prescribed by the
Constitution itself for its amendment; and that if
any power not granted by the Constitution is
exercised by the government or any branch of it, on
the ground that the Constitution ought to be
changed in order to fit new conditions, or on any
other grounds, usurpation in the line of arbitrary
government is already an accomplished fact. And if
such usurpation be submitted to by the people, that
acquiescence will become an incentive to further
usurpation which may end in the complete wreck
of constitutional government.
“Such usurpations are most apt to be
acquiesced in when, in time of war, they appeal to
popular feeling in the name of military necessity,
269