MICROBYTE: What happened to Checks and Balances?

Obviously, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and the rest of the guys who invented America couldn’t anticipate things like social media. Nor did they ever imagine that anyone would want to be a career politician. Back then, people ran for public office out of a sense of duty to country, and then, as Jefferson said, they went “back to the plow.” Get on your horse, ride fifteen days to get to Washington, sleep in lice-ridden inns two to a bed along the way, poor pay. I’m guessing that the plow looked pretty good after a couple of years of that. 

But they did anticipate that human nature would remain basically the same,  tricky at best, ruthless, deceitful, and power-hungry at worst. 

Which is why they were determined that America would have three equally powerful branches of government as a way of curbing our worst instincts.  

Checks and balances, Mexican Standoff.

And one more thing they got wrong, they assumed that each of the three branches, Judicial, Executive, and Legislative, would jealously guard their power and their prerogatives, work at keeping the other two honest, and stand in the way of an ambitious George III-wanna-be.

It’s certainly not the most efficient kind of government. And it wasn’t meant to be.

It was meant to protect the historic rights the Constitution guarantees We The People. And those rights are still pretty much alone in a world where 72% of the people live in autocracies.

Now, from time to time, as we’re witnessing at the moment, the founders' clever and insightful system of checks and balances gets dangerously unbalanced. And when that happens, it becomes necessary for We The People to step in and make things right. Remind the people we elected to do their job or go home. 

Looks to me like this is one of those times.

MICROBYTE: Democracy on the edge.

If ten thousand years of human history proves anything, it’s that the thirst for power is hard-wired into our insatiable, avaricious human brains. 

In terms of a system of government, a way of curbing our worst instincts, the Idea of America is still the best antidote ever conceived. With all its faults and shortcomings, it is still, as Lincoln said, “The last best hope of earth.”

Why? Because it places the ultimate power in the hands of We The People rather than a king, or a khan, or a dictator.

But the idea isn’t self-sustaining. Democracy is not a spectator sport. With power comes responsibility.

And it appears now is the time for We The People to take up that responsibility with a vengeance.

Repeating what I said in the post, in the next few days, nine people will make a decision that could put a stake in the heart of our democracy. 

The question of whether or not President Trump's unilateral decision to declare a national emergency so he could wage his tariff war is unconstitutional is now in the hands of what, up until now, has been a supremely compliant Supreme Court.

If the court decides he’s trampled on the Constitution, then we are still living in the America our founders conceived.

If, on the other hand, their decision is that a President can do whatever the hell he wants to do, checks and balances be damned, in that moment, we will be living in an autocracy. 

It’s that serious. 

And if that turns out to be their decision, only Congress can reverse the effects.

So, once again, as our founders intended, what becomes of America will be up to We The People. 

We must continue to stand up, continue to march, continue to be heard in the Townhalls, and, most importantly, we must get hold of the people we elected to Congress and let them know that more spineless compliance will cost them dearly come the midterms.

 AN UNFINISHED STORY. A personal history of the 1960s.

(Author, Doris Kearns Goodwin, (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize), Publisher, Simon&Schuster, 410 pages)

“Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for 42years, and married to American history even longer. Dick was one of the brilliant young men of President Kennedy’s new Frontier. Doris was a 24-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. Share worked directly;t for President Lyndon Johnson and later assisted with his memoir. 

“Over the years, with humor, anger, frustration, and in the end a growing understanding, Dick and Doris had argued over the achievements and failures of the leaders they served and observed, debating the progress and unfinished promises of the country they loved.”

“With her skillful grasp of revealing detail, Ms Goodwin brings great political figures back to life.” The New York Times

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