This morning on CNN, some woman named Carol Costello made the argument that checks and balances are really hurting our country, and that if James Madison could see us now, he’d probably decide not to put them into our system of government. Wow, what a stupid knee-jerk reaction! How come she wasn’t making that argument during the Bush administration? Actually, probably for two reasons: one, the Democrats in Congress just rubber-stamped whatever he wanted to do all the time; and two, I’ll bet Ms. Costello wouldn’t like a Republican administration to be able to just do whatever it wanted whenever it wanted like a king or a dictator could do. But you know, when the country gets tired of the Democrats running things (and they will; they always get tired of one party after awhile), they’ll vote them out, and then the Republicans would have whatever power you wanted for them Dems.
Sound good? No? Then please have the foresight to look a couple of years down the road and realize that whatever power you give Obama will also be wielded by the next Republican! So then say goodbye to reproductive rights, gay rights, civil rights laws, congressional approval for military action (actually, Obama is killing that with the Libya fiasco), the EPA, food safety, etc. If this doesn’t sound like what you want, then shut up about wishing away checks and balances, because remember: What goes around comes around!
I don’t like or trust either party, and I don’t want either of them to have unchecked power! When I hear people pining for absolute power for their party, it amazes me at how much misguided faith they have in politicians. They’re not trustworthy, and they’re much more interested in their own re-election than they are in anything else. And they don’t deserve absolute power! Nobody does! The only reason this country has lasted this long and been so prosperous is that this system of government was very well designed! Let’s keep it that way, please. As dysfunctional as it is now, it would be a lot worse if we got rid of the very things that make it a good system to begin with!
If you want to make it better, how about congressional term limits, rather than removing checks and balances? Oh, and how about taking money out of politics, so there’s no more legalized bribery? Ms. Costello may trust the Democrats to do the right thing, but I don’t! And I don’t trust the Republicans, either! So how about erring on the side of caution? Seriously, sometimes I think these “news” people are doing us more harm than good! (I wish they’d just report the facts, and keep their opinions to themselves!)
What little accountability and checks on power we still have left, we need! Because your party won’t always be in power, and then the other guys will have unlimited power to do whatever they want! So use a little foresight, please! (And intelligence.)
