It's Not The Old West Folks!

C'Mon folks this is not the lawless Old West. The elections and subsequent legislative and executive 'encounters' aren't meant to be the equivalent of gunfights on main street. It's not meant to be about survival of the fittest or the last man/woman standing. The winner of the gunfights we're seeing doesn't get to be the law.

The 'law' is our Constitution, not any of the institutions created by it, any person garnering significant power by it's processes or any political party that comes along. Our founding fathers established the principles and rules by way of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They intended for there to be a tension but also relative balance between the two basic political opposites, liberals and conservatives. When one party locks the other out of the room while creating really important new laws and sweeping government reform, including record spending and debt, we become more like a dictatorship or autocracy than a democracy. It may be exciting, fun or even entertaining for some in one party but it's not healthy for our country. It's arguably unconstitutional isn't it?

There is no doubt that passing that particular stimulus bill absolutely commits us to big tax increases to pay for its spending requirements without citizens having any idea what those taxes will be. There is also no question that not one legislator had time to read the legislation before passage so that guarantees there was no time to ensure it represents the will of The People. In fact, rational people have argued that it was processed that quickly in order to consciously avoid having citizens know what was in it before it was voted on. What would our founding fathers say about that? Does taxation without representation ring a bell?

Why has America been so consistently successful compared with countries that are controlled by either very left-wing or very right-wing politics? What's going on in Congress is unhealthy and the legislative processes being used appear to violate at least the spirit of the Constitution and intentions of our founding fathers.