Last week began in the Capitol Rotunda with President Donald Trump taking the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States. Over on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid — offering color commentary — lamented the occasion and asked, “How is this happening in America?”

I found that question a bit amusing, not out of delight in their angst, but because only four years ago, conservatives were asking the same thing when Joe Biden took office. And, after four years of that administration, many more were left wondering how it happened. But that’s another commentary.

The two anchors dubbed “sisters of doom” were bemoaning the flurry of executive orders they expected to follow, overriding those of the Biden administration — which itself had superseded previous Trump directives, which in turn had replaced Obama’s. Among the new executive orders last week were pardons for nearly two dozen pro-life advocates charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Several of them were elderly grandmothers, praying peacefully when arrested.

Americans should not have to wait for the “right” president to receive justice. Equal and impartial justice ought to be a right for every American under any administration. When people say our legal system is “two-tiered,” it isn’t baseless. It reveals that justice is not blind; it’s largely determined by whoever occupies the Oval Office. That, by definition, is more like a monarchy than a republic.

Our republic is meant to be ruled by law, not by a man or even a cluster of elites. Historically, we have been free of tyranny because of our foundation in the rule of law — once anchored to transcendent truth and natural law. As Paul writes in Romans chapter two, such truth is inscribed on human hearts.

When a society rejects that transcendent truth, it follows whatever raw political power allows. Justice gets compromised, and freedom begins to slip away. Now is not the time to wield political power for its own sake; it is the time to use that power — within the boundaries of law — to restore the law itself.

And that restoration starts by returning to the truth of God. If America seeks to be “politically great,” it must first be morally good. For the moment, praying grandmothers are safe in America again. But here is the sobering reality: if we fail to break this cycle and return our nation to a rule of law grounded in unchanging moral truth, another election could produce a government that treats intercession like a crime and regards standing for life as probable cause for arrest.

Then, once again, we would be left asking, “How is this happening in America?”