We cannot sustain this great republic if the public neither respects nor trusts its government. And Americans will not respect or trust a government that attempts to meddle in all things.

The solution is simple: the federal government should stop trying to solve all the nation’s problems or manage all areas of our lives with laws and regulations from the top down, and we should demand from our representatives a return to the transparent and deliberative legislative process.

Only then will we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Otherwise, we will indeed fold like a House of Cards.

Jim DeMint, a former senator from South Carolina, is president of the Heritage Foundation. You can follow him on Twitter: @JimDeMint.

Image: Wikimedia Commons/M.Fitzsimmons. CC BY-SA 3.0.