12 July 2007
Do We Really Want This To Continue?
I never imagined that I would see this in America: loss of personal trust in the Bill of Rights and justice perpetuated by a government of due process under The Constitution.
Checks and balances would prevent the takeover of republican democracy in the United States. 1. A caring President could veto malicious legislation from Congress, exercise the appointment power for a responsible Cabinet to implement due process through rules and regulations, federal Judiciary appointments some of which require the concurrence of the Senate (worded as Advise and Consent), conduct the nation's foreign policy through diplomacy and military force; however, the President cannot declare war or appropriate funds unapproved by the Congress.
2. A bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate, called the Congress enacts the legislation by which the Executive establishes federal rules and regulations for running the country. The House controls the purse strings, ultimately, obtaining concurrence from the Senate. "The purse" goes to the President for acceptance or rejection. To change the budget's appropriation of funds, the President can allocate at will within the budget approved by Congress, but any additional appropriation requires supplemental requests to the House of Representatives. If the Judiciary decides that legislation in place or situations exist that only the Constitution states the norm, Congress can pass and the President enact legislation to enforce or obviate Judicial decisions.
3. The federal Judiciary decides what litigation complies with, against or is outside the boundaries of The Constitution's authority. The highest judicial institution is the Supreme Court of a chief justice and eight associate justices. All members are nominated by the President to be confirmed upon approval by the Senate.
That's the scheme created in 1787 to join 13 states into a single nation-state, the United States of America. The Constitution of 1787 replaced the Articles of Confederation of 1783, because individual states had too much authority to prevent the Confederated States from acting with unified authority. The solution to resolve the chaos of equal claims by each state to govern the other states or to ignore laws with which that state disagreed was agreed to in 1787-- 13 states ratified The Constitution of the United States. For 220 years, this document and governmental design continues to define the paradigm of a republican process democracy. Examples of pure democracy in governance include: town meetings in Vermont, homeowners associations, faculty meetings, all our favorite venues.
BUT, BEYOND BELIEF, IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE RELIVING THE LAST YEARS OF GERMANY'S WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND DER PRESIDENT VON HINDENBURG STILL LEADS THE COUNTRY
We are so, so close to witnessing that coup which began anew in 1984. By 2000, the NeoCons hijacked my country and its reputation in the world. More commonly today, violence pervades our games and sports, our perspective on our own ability to survive, and fear is the catalyst for enabling these changes to happen. I worry about how our culture and social institutions cope with fundamental values of justice, entitlements as a person, authority. Unspoken or unrecognized moral norms seem to create adherence or adoption via the dynamics of power--thus violence and winning are so pervasively woven into our public ethics.
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Checks and balances would prevent the takeover of republican democracy in the United States. 1. A caring President could veto malicious legislation from Congress, exercise the appointment power for a responsible Cabinet to implement due process through rules and regulations, federal Judiciary appointments some of which require the concurrence of the Senate (worded as Advise and Consent), conduct the nation's foreign policy through diplomacy and military force; however, the President cannot declare war or appropriate funds unapproved by the Congress.
2. A bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate, called the Congress enacts the legislation by which the Executive establishes federal rules and regulations for running the country. The House controls the purse strings, ultimately, obtaining concurrence from the Senate. "The purse" goes to the President for acceptance or rejection. To change the budget's appropriation of funds, the President can allocate at will within the budget approved by Congress, but any additional appropriation requires supplemental requests to the House of Representatives. If the Judiciary decides that legislation in place or situations exist that only the Constitution states the norm, Congress can pass and the President enact legislation to enforce or obviate Judicial decisions.
3. The federal Judiciary decides what litigation complies with, against or is outside the boundaries of The Constitution's authority. The highest judicial institution is the Supreme Court of a chief justice and eight associate justices. All members are nominated by the President to be confirmed upon approval by the Senate.
That's the scheme created in 1787 to join 13 states into a single nation-state, the United States of America. The Constitution of 1787 replaced the Articles of Confederation of 1783, because individual states had too much authority to prevent the Confederated States from acting with unified authority. The solution to resolve the chaos of equal claims by each state to govern the other states or to ignore laws with which that state disagreed was agreed to in 1787-- 13 states ratified The Constitution of the United States. For 220 years, this document and governmental design continues to define the paradigm of a republican process democracy. Examples of pure democracy in governance include: town meetings in Vermont, homeowners associations, faculty meetings, all our favorite venues.
BUT, BEYOND BELIEF, IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE RELIVING THE LAST YEARS OF GERMANY'S WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND DER PRESIDENT VON HINDENBURG STILL LEADS THE COUNTRY
We are so, so close to witnessing that coup which began anew in 1984. By 2000, the NeoCons hijacked my country and its reputation in the world. More commonly today, violence pervades our games and sports, our perspective on our own ability to survive, and fear is the catalyst for enabling these changes to happen. I worry about how our culture and social institutions cope with fundamental values of justice, entitlements as a person, authority. Unspoken or unrecognized moral norms seem to create adherence or adoption via the dynamics of power--thus violence and winning are so pervasively woven into our public ethics.
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