On Nov. 6, Americans will decide whether they want a dictatorial leader to remain as the head of state or whether they want to return to a constitutional republic.

On Jan. 22, 1973, in an unquestionable act of judicial legislation, a sizable majority (7-2) of the U.S. Supreme Court placed pleasure ahead of innocent human life with its decision in Roe v. Wade. On Jan. 27, 2012, the Obama administration, through Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, announced its decision to give Catholic employers (and others of similar belief) a year to get used to the idea of violating their conscience either by participating in what they believe to be an act of murder or risking going out of business or being fined for dropping insurance coverage that pays for abortion-inducing drugs. The ruling does not apply to churches but does apply to religious-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service agencies.

Conservatives had little choice but to stand by in horror while the likes of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told us in January 2010 that she would first try "going through the gate" to get Obamacare passed. She was quick to let us know what alternative routes she would pursue if the gate was closed: "We will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people ... and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit."

After this job-killing, deficit-mounting, undemocratic bill was rammed down our throats, we learned that few, if any, in Congress had even read the bill of more than 2,000 pages, and Ms. Pelosi told us the bill had to first be passed before we would find out what was in it.

Conservatives told America then that the devil would be in the details, not only in the bill itself, but more important, in the administrative regulations to follow, now already totaling more than 10,000 pages. Some of the issues raised by this ruling aren't as apparent as others, but all of them strike at the very heart of traditional American values.

In Federalist Paper Number 51, James Madison said: "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself."

Checks and balances were thus built into our inefficient but carefully balanced separation of powers. The Framers were concerned that if the branches of government ever overlapped, tyranny would ensue.

Congresses past and present slowly have delegated away their responsibility to the point that they no longer enact the substance of our laws with our consent. They delegate this fundamental function to the executive branch and then blame the executive in charge when he presides over regulations they do not like. Shame on Congress for delegating away their duty to us by handing over this much power to the executive branch.

The most glaring atrocity exposed by this ruling is the assault on that most fundamental of all American freedoms, the freedom to exercise one's religion without government interference. Just three days before the Sebelius announcement, the president in his State of the Union message defined what he called the basic American promise — "that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement" — and then he said, "The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important.... What's at stake aren't Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. And we have to reclaim them."

If the president believes "no debate is more important" than how much we have in the bank, he knows little about true American values. He apparently knows nothing about our forefathers who valued freedom more than life itself and who valued religious freedom above all else.

Regardless of how each of us may feel about contraceptives or even abortion, all Americans (of faith or otherwise) should stand with Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York City and former Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis, and against the administration on this freedom-crippling ruling, for someday this government may stomp all over your particular conscientious beliefs of some other variety.

That is, unless you have no conscience. Perhaps the most important debate for America come this November is not how much we own but whether we still have a conscience at all. Some things used to be more important to Americans than temporal wealth. This November we will determine, at least in part, whether this generation stands for anything other than the almighty dollar.

Tad Armstrong is an Edwardsville lawyer, founder of ELL Constitution Clubs (www.ellconstitutionclubs.com) and author of "It's OK to Say 'God.' "