Our Founding Fathers had a big advantage when establishing the governing provenance for the new nation. They had an extensive knowledge of, and an appreciation for history. They learned the lessons of history and were determined that their descendants, we, the American people, would not be doomed to repeat them. The Fathers knew that all democracies fail because they implode; they eat themselves up, guts out, because free stuff is an intoxicant. It breeds power, and power corrupts. To prevent this, the Fathers set up a three-branch governmental system that included democratic principles, but provided checks and balances to insure that one branch of the government would not become more powerful than the other two. The three branches are: the Executive branch which includes the president and his administration, the Legislative branch which includes the two houses of Congress, the Senate and the House of Representative, and the Judicial branch (the Supreme Court and the Federal judicial system), which has the last say in what legislative actions may be implemented based on the precepts of the Constitution. At least that’s how it is supposed to work.
This checks and balances form of government has served us well in keeping one branch from gaining too much power over the governmental system, but now we find ourselves in a different world. Not only different from what the Founding Fathers envisioned, or the high American ideal of Abraham Lincoln, or the vision of Thomas Jefferson, but different from anything any American has ever experienced. All three branches of government are battling intensely and openly for control of the federal government. Talk about clash of the Titans. This fight plays out every day on our T.V. screens and computer monitors. The president challenging and insulting the Congress and the news media, the Congress fighting among themselves for control of that branch, and the Supreme Court with only two types of justices left: extremely liberal, or extremely conservative. No middle ground.
This fight is for the future of this nation; this fight is for our form of government, our very way of life; this fight can determine the course of this nation for the next fifty years, and this fight is completely and totally unnecessary. The Republicans have already won this fight, but, being Republicans, they choose to argue the point among themselves. They have a majority in the U.S. Senate, a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, a conservative leaning Supreme Court and the U.S. presidency, yet they insist on constantly working on their Keystone Kops routines as though they’re expecting to place first in the Congressional Max Sennett talent extravaganza. Enough already of this self-serving well-known-article-of-bovine-digestion and get to work setting the agenda for this great nation. Or once great nation. Has any one of you heard the president’s plans for this country? These are the principles you ran your campaigns on. These are the issues which you supported, and as a result, you were elected to your offices. Now, your major focus is not on doing the job we sent you there to do, but debating on whether or not you should cancel the August recess. How does that even become an issue? If the job isn’t done, you don’t go on vacation…at least we don’t. All this, and everything everyone else writes about the problems in Congress, will never end as long as we allow people to make politics their career. They become entrenched in the Foggy Bottom Swamp to the point where the Swamp becomes their constituent, not the people who elected them. So, instead of securing the future of the republic as a strong and great nation, the Republicans will allow this opportunity to evaporate like so many others have in the past. We will become more and more like France until we implode, like Europe is imploding from the weight of their own socialist folly. One possible future is full of hope, pride and optimism. The other is full of dread, uncertainty and anarchy, and the worst thing about it? We, the people, do not get to decide.