Something with potential for good or evil is rushing down upon us, to be followed in two years by something with equal potential for good or evil.
No, I am not talking about a potential terror attack by ISIS or other Islamic terrorist group, although I do not discount that possibility. I am speaking of something that could have lasting effects on us, our children and our children’s children.
“What” you ask, “could have such long term catastrophic effects?” Answer: The congressional elections of 2014.
If you are paying attention, and I know you are, then you are aware that a grand total of 471 seats will be up for grabs in the U.S. Congress. That means 36 Senate seats (including three special elections) and all 435 House members are up for election, or re-election, on Nov. 4, 2014. In case some of you have forgotten, these are the men and women you sent to Washington as your duly constituted representatives. They are there because they promised to carry out your wishes and desires for the next two or six years. (Just a friendly reminder, 34 of the 100 Senate and all 435 House members will be back again to seek your permission to “represent” you in 2016.)
Although we still have some semblance of the republic our founders envisioned, we seem to have forgotten their initial concept of our American system of government – a republic, not a democracy. (A democracy, reduced to its essence, is essentially “mob rule – the mostest shouting the loudest wins the day.) Representatives in the U.S. Congress were elected by the general public based on a state’s population size and two senators per state (originally selected by state legislatures) were sent as national representatives regardless of population size.
There is more than just political sloganism behind the establishment of our republic. Three separate but equal branches of government were established for the express purpose of holding each other in check: the Legislative branch (House and Senate), Judicial branch (Supreme Court) and Executive branch (president). Unlike the reigning monarchies of the Revolutionary War period, none of these branches would be able to simply override the other and impose its will on the populace.
For example, the Senate could not impose national financial burdens on the public without the consent of the House, whose members had to seek permission from said public to return every two years; the president could not impose his will, via dictates, absent the consent of the senators (who once were appointed by local legislatures); and all laws passed were subject to the scrutiny of the Supreme Court justices, who were not to be intimidated by threats of elections. (They could be removed if impeached by the House and convicted in a Senate trial, based on the same type of offenses articulated against any government official in Articles I and II of the Constitution.)
In other words, none in our form of government was, or should be, above the same laws that govern the citizenry. The purpose was to ensure maximum fairness for the citizenry at the federal level and not place the locals at the mercy of centralized power such as they were just escaping.
So come Tuesday, Nov. 4, you can choose to watch your favorite soap, talk show or quiz program and, by default, place the destiny of your future and the future of your children’s children in the hands of people who themselves will not be subject to the burdens they place, financially or legislatively, upon you and yours. You will, in effect, have violated the principle articulated by one of America’s greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln: You have not chosen government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” but government over the people.
Media wishing to interview Ben Kinchlow, please contact [email protected].
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