Authority or Not

The US Constitution gives all citizens the right to vote and many other rights, freedoms and obligations. Lately, the Supreme Court has been taking many of those rights, freedoms and obligations away from the American People. This is wrong. The Supreme Court has overspent its authority. Who says so? We the people. That’s who.

Somehow the three federal branches of government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial – forgot the central precis of the American Way of Life. We the people dictate what is to be and what is. There are the three branches of government that appear to assume the responsibility, but they really do not have it unless we the people say it is so.

What does this mean? Here are a few takeaways from George.

1. The Legislative Branch has underperformed its function and authority for many decades now. In real ways the branch has abdicated its authority. Because we the people elect representatives to this branch, we are the people with the power. If the elected representatives do not do their jobs, then they have forfeited the authority we granted them. In very recent years, the Legislative Branch has actually accomplished almost nothing. Check it out. Make your own conclusions from what you find.

 Meanwhile, it is time to annul Congress for lack of functioning.

 2.   The Executive Branch has assumed many authorities over the years, often differing from previous administrations, yet returning to age-old practices at times. Trump and his minions assumed authority it did not have many times. Executive Orders were decreed often and, for a short time, their impact was felt. When the administration was over, so were the Executive Orders. While Trump was trodding through this landscape, he was not performing the very functions all previous Presidents did. A Do Nothing Presidency describes Trump’s term quite well. Oh, he raised plenty of chaos, but no meaningful repairs, inventions, services or anything else was accomplished by him in that term. He did lower taxes and created a terrific spike in the national debt. More than a $ Trillion just for the unpaid for tax bill. It can be argued that another $ Trillion is involved. But certainly the COVID Pandemic ‘solutions’ caused another 3 or 4 $ Trillion of debt. No effort was made to pay for this debt. Bush did much the same thing, increasing the debt by at least $3 Trillion, mostly for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In short, what ails America are many things. Many people and institutions have studied these problems and posed solutions for them. But it is government and its agencies which have to decide and implement those actions. During Trump’s term, nothing much was accomplished. During Biden’s term, a lot has been done to undo the Trump fiasco. Still, political intrigue and ideology continue to frustrate the federal government. Actions needed are forestalled. Plain and simple.

The Executive branch, at least under George W. Bush and Trump, have negated the authority of the branch. That authority goes back to the people, the voters.  The Judicial Branch oversees local, district and federal courts the nation over. It shares authority with state agencies. It sets standards and procedures. It oversees the constitutionality of laws, procedures and actions made by both federal and state legislatures. And yet, new laws are being written and old ones erased by decree of the Supreme Court. Politically packed by ideological presidents in past years, conservative ideology now drives the Supreme Court. Its decisions are now deconstructing our democracy and republic bit by bit. The court is throwing the nation into chaos.

Let’s be clear, the intent of the court in such matters is not in their realm of authority. Their actions do cause chaos, but they should not. In fact, their job is to preserve order. If their actions work against that objective, then the Supreme Court has abdicated its role and authority in my opinion.

Justice Roberts was supposed to be an administrative power in the court. He has not been such. Rather he has been an implementer of ideology and judicial misfires. Such may be impeachable offenses, but truth tells us they have abdicated their role and thus have self-impeached the court in its entirety.

How We The People take charge of this situation and provide repair, is an unknown at this time. however, it is clear that the normal players in our governance authority levels no longer exists. We need some legal experts outside of the current Judicial Branch to figure out how we can repair the three branches. All at the same time.

Clearly, American Democracy is no longer alive. But neither is its government. This is what happens when the People fail to do their homework and take responsibility for their voting and health of the national Republic.

We have a crisis standing in our face. A convicted felon pretends to be a presidential candidate. The standing President is bad mouthed for being old. No credit has been granted for the functioning of his governance in the Executive Branch. It may be the only functioning part of our current government. And yet his standing as president is in peril in an election in which too many people understand nothing or too little. Shame on us for that.

Shame on them for playing games with what is excruciatingly important to all of us.

July 5, 2024