By giving a history of the rule of law in the West, Hillsdale College Professor Matthew Spalding attempted to show a congressional committee the dangers resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act on Sept. 17.
In his testimony, Spalding, the Allan P. Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship’s associate vice-president and dean of education programs, warned Congress that laws like Dodd-Frank pose an imminent threat to America’s prosperity.
“If the administrative rule now threatening to overwhelm American society becomes the undisputed norm—accepted not only among the academic and political elites, but also by the American people, as the defining characteristic of the modern state—it could well mark the end of our great experiment in self-government,” Spalding told the committee.
Two weeks ago, the House Financial Services Committee hosted five speakers, including Spalding, to discuss the five-year effect of the Dodd-Frank Act, which President Barack Obama signed in 2010 to bail out large financial firms after the 2008 financial crisis.
The committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), said he asked Spalding to speak on the panel because he is one of the most “qualified experts capable of reminding members of Congress of the great principles upon which our country was founded,” Hensarling said in an email. “Dr. Spalding offered keen insights into the thinking of the Founders and the vital importance of the rule of law.”
Spalding said he wanted to show that the growing administrative state, manifested through laws like Dodd-Frank, violates the rule of law process, which is the “centerpiece of how we are self-governed.”
Spalding said what he provided to the committee reflects Hillsdale’s mission in the District of Columbia to “give teaching backed up with real knowledge.”
Provost David Whalen agreed, calling it a “perfect testament of Hillsdale’s place in politics today.”
“It isn’t our objective to turn all students into testifiers before Congress but equip them with an understanding of truth to where they are able to illuminate those principles wherever they are.” Whalen said. “That chamber turned into a classroom.”