In 1776, the founders of the United States revolted against King George III, who claimed absolute authority over them, and a Parliament that was growing in power, a power that was starting to surpass that of the King. In reaction to that power, and also in reaction to the growing tension over the issue of slavery, our founders compromised and ultimately created a structure of government and enshrined it in the US Constitution. They created three separate branches of government, and in an effort to limit the power of any one entity, instituted a series of different checks and balances.
For the purpose of this article, I note that the Constitution limited the power of the executive branch by not giving it authority to make law or spend money; it could only do so if those laws and spending proposals were passed by Congress. Likewise, the Executive Branch does not have the power to declare war, unless it has the consent of Congress.
The Constitution limited power of the legislative branch by dividing into two bodies. The House of Representatives most closely follows the current opinions of the people, in that all representatives are elected every two years, and by the fact that the number of representatives closely corresponds to the population (thus greatly concentrated in the highly populated urban areas). In contrast, US Senators are elected in staggered terms and serve for a period of six years. Each state has two Senators, regardless of the population of that state. In effect, this structure tends to protect the minority of people who live in more unpopulated areas.
In contrast, the Constitution gives the Judicial Branch no real power to do anything. However, it does have the power to prevent any abuse coming from either the executive or legislative branch. For instance, unlike George III or the dictators of today, the executive branch cannot imprison people unless they receive due process and are tried and convicted by a jury of their peers. Judiciary can also prevent abuses coming from the legislative and executive branch by declaring enacted laws as unconstitutional and ineffective.
Finally, the founders of our country were not finished in their efforts to limit government power. Three years after the Constitution became effective in 1788, the Constitution was amended with the Bill of Rights. These amendments specified and guaranteed many personal freedoms and rights, limited the federal government’s power in judicial and other proceedings, and explicitly declared that all power not specifically given to the federal government belonged to the people and to the states.
Why are we bothering with this brief and admittedly not comprehensive civics lesson? It is because we believe the Constitution, the foundation of our democracy, is again under attack - this time by powerful Democratic leaders in both the executive and legislative branches. Consider the following.
Former Presidential candidate and Senator, John Kerry, recently called the First Amendment a “major block” to keeping people from believing the “wrong” things. “Democracies around the world now are struggling with the absence of a sort of truth arbiter, and there’s no one who defines what facts really are.”
Former Presidential candidate and Senator, Hillary Clinton, recently called for the repeal of section 230, which gave internet platforms immunity. She lamented the fact that social platforms aren’t being judged for the content that is posted, saying that if they don’t moderate and monitor the content, “we lose total control.” She has also suggested the arrest of Americans who she views as spreading disinformation.
VP candidate, Governor Walz, said about the Constitution: “There's no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.”
President Biden has defied the Supreme by repeatedly trying to spend US tax dollars to repay student loans without the consent of Congress, and he and VP Harris have proposed “reforms” on the Supreme Court by, among other things, imposing term limits for Justices’ active service.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden has gone further, and he has proposed a new bill that would expand the number of Supreme Court justices, requires two-thirds of the Supreme Court and federal circuit courts of appeals to overturn any law passed by Congress.
Let’s be clear what is happening here. Politicians like Gore, Clinton and Waltz want to control what you can say, and what you can read and hear. They don’t want to lose control, and they arrogantly think they should be the ones to decide what constitutes misinformation and hate speech. Politicians like Wyden, Harris and Biden agree, and they want to limit the power of the one Constitutional entity that really stands in their way, the US Supreme Court.
That’s why we think it is so important to strengthen and not weaken the third branch of government, the Judiciary, which is headed by the Supreme Court. We believe that the most important component of Judiciary power is that the judges (after being nominated by the President and passed by the Senate) serve for life, and thus cannot be thrown out or voted out of their office (with limited exceptions) by either the executive or legislative branch. In this way, judges are, to a large extent, insulated from the passion of the politics of the day.
Let’s also be clear that Republicans are not immune to wanting to assume control. British historian, Lord Acton, was correct when he said: “Absolute power corrupts, absolutely,” and it does not matter what side of the political aisle you may be on.
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