Constitution Day!
It's we the people, not we the party.
Happy Constitution Day! I love our constitution because it balances power by separating it, while also acting as a communication mechanism between government and people, it divides power in our society into four, the three powers that rule us, the Executive, State, and People, and one power that decides for us, the Judiciary. Understanding that each one needs the other, the people need both the executive and state to build a prosperous family and community and stay safe. The state and the executive need the people’s labor and capital to build a nation that cannot be conquered, protecting future generations. If the powers are acting within virtue, they are serving more than ruling, allowing our nation to grow and prosper, ruling is when power decides for society, and serving is when the powers collaborate and solve the problems society faces. So, today I want to walk through a few parts of the constitution and discuss how power in our society should be balanced but isn’t and discuss how we should serve and be served but instead are being ruled.
Click here to read the constitution.
Let’s start at the beginning. Article I vests all legislative powers to Congress and divides those powers in two, between the Senate, which represents the state, and the House which represents the people. I want to pick out a piece from sections 2 and 3 and explain how it helps balance power in our society. In section 2, the constitution gives the power of impeachment to the House and in section 3, it gives the power to try Impeachment to the Senate. Dividing this power is important to ensure another power, the executive is held accountable. Accountability is how people are heard.
Recently our generation witnessed two impeachment trials within the last five years. Our constitution divided the power of impeachment into the state and the people for a reason. However, our recent impeachment trials were decided by the parties as opposed to the proper and virtuous powers of congress. This is dangerous and shows a major flaw in our system. Let me explain why. With the powers that serve us divided into three, the executive, state, and people, it ensures if one were corrupt and attempted to rule us, the other two could balance them out and right the wrongs. However, if the real power is held by an outside party, then they could, in theory, control the three powers that serve us, turning them into rulers as opposed to servants. Let’s look at the two most recent impeachment trials, they were a battle between blue and red more than a battle between right and wrong. Remember the senate is the state and is not on the same team as the executive, they are a balance to one another. But in our current political environment, the senate represents the party in charge, in this case, the Republicans, more than it represents its own body. Is a trial fair when the one presiding over the trial and the defendant are on the same team? And let’s look at it from the other side. Congress is controlled by the Democratic party, but if they controlled enough of the Senate then the executive would have no hope of defending themselves if the party decided they were guilty. Having the parties control the process takes the power out of the hands of the people and the state. Think about it, did anyone from congress sit down with the people of their community before deciding to impeach the president? Did the senate give a fair trial or was it rigged from the beginning because of who held the power? The House should have worked closely with the American people and the Senate should have given an unbiased trial. There was never a question of guilt or not, it was always a matter of how the parties wielded their power against each other. Our recent impeachment trials show how the political parties have manipulated the balance of our government laid out in Article 1, section 2, and 3.
Next, let’s talk about Article III which vests the power of the judiciary into the Supreme Court. The purpose of the court is to act as an arbitrator of the three powers that serve us. I find it helps me to understand power and communication together. Think of the power to serve as active communication and the power to decide as passive communication. The Judiciary’s job is to listen and only become active when necessary. If the powers that serve us (we serve ourselves as the people share power) are doing their job, the court’s power is silent. However, when partisan government creates battle after battle the court becomes a more active power in society. This is how the court’s power is manipulated, the goal being it is easier to get 5 men or women to agree than 2/3rds of the states and people. We saw this in the lead-up to the civil war, during the battle between capital and labor in the industrial age and we’ve seen it in recent generations with the abortion and campaign finance cases. It’s not about how they decided so much as they must keep deciding. And if the parties are helping select the judiciary, then the power to rule and decide is being lined up together. This is dangerous.
Lastly, let’s talk about Article IV section 4 which “shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government” This is important because it ensures that power will be divided and balanced within the states of the union along with the federal government. The key to republican government is to spread power (which is also responsibility) out as much as possible across society. Allowing people to share in power (and responsibility) incentivizes the citizens to serve the nation that serves them. Looking back at Article I section 2, “The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States” The intent was to have frequent elections, so the representatives are accountable to the people. Think of the Republican government as a communication mechanism to funnel the people’s voice up to the state and the executive through the House of Representatives. This function works by putting power close to the people and vesting the people of the union with equal suffrage. If the representatives don’t listen to the people, the people vote them out. But when the people vote red or blue rather than right or wrong, communication and power are manipulated.
Our constitution works to balance the power of society and help it communicate. However, the parties do not work inside the powers of the constitution, they work outside of them. Their objective is not to govern but win. Where the representative’s job is to listen (responsibility) and inform (power), the party’s job is to fundraise (power) and demand loyalty (power). Where our government’s job is to serve the nation, it’s the party’s job to rule.
Over the next few weeks, I will release a series of articles discussing events, such as the capping of the house, the 14th and 17th amendments, and Supreme Court cases like Citizens United, that have thrown our government out of balance and shifted power from the people’s hands to the party’s hands. I will also share ideas on how we can work within our republican framework to right the rules (and rewrite), serve our nation, and stop the party’s from ruling us. I encourage everyone to be part of the conversation and comment.