Democrats set about at the beginning of the year to exclude elected Republican representatives from the legislative process. I guess we shouldn't be surprised. After all, they put us on notice this would happen when Democratic leaders in both houses and the executive branch actually said(!) "we won so we get to do it our way". Big picture, they cannot do that legally. Democrats can certainly get their way on any legislation by the end of the process when votes are taken but, constitutionally, they may not exclude elected Republican representatives from the process itself.
Excluding elected Republican representatives from the legislative process denies them the opportunity to represent the interests of their constituents. If those elected representatives are allowed no effect on legislation and are, in fact, denied participation in most of the front room and back room processes then Democrats have purposely (and, arguably, with malice and hostility) rendered them incapable of representing their constituents.
If elected Republicans are actively denied a voice in legislation, then the people who elected them are denied a voice in it. That means that the votes of those who elected them are made irrelevant. That's bad, really bad, for two reasons.
First, the result IS taxation without representation. We Republicans have NO say but we pay the tax anyway or literally go to jail. How can this be a government of, by and for the people when both legislative bodies AND the executive branch GRANT TO THEMSELVES(!) the power to deny representation of nearly half of the country's citizens? This is unconstitutional without doubt but it is more than that. We fought a revolution over that issue. How could this be more wrong?
Second, it represents de-facto disenfranchisement of nearly half of Americans who no longer have any significant voice in their government. Common sense, the very definition of a Republic and any sense of fairness dictate this is wrong. In fact, the Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed disenfranchisement is unconstitutional!
Before you go to the standard argument that Democrats are just doing what everyone does, let me correct you at the outset. Democrats have a held veto-proof majority in one or BOTH houses 30 of my 67 years. Question: how many years did Republicans hold a veto-proof majority in EITHER house? Answer: zero! Republicans have never pursued this course (in my lifetime) because they could not! Claiming that they're 'just as bad' has no significant merit.
That the Democrats' 'denial of representation' process is unconstitutional is an easy and rational argument to make. It's an equally easy and rational argument to say that any laws deriving from unconstitutional processes are EQUALLY unconstitutional ... and, therefore, must be thrown out. Yes, the current health care bill should be thrown out and they should start over cooperatively because they may be wasting their time and our money. The Supreme Court has every reason to declare the resulting laws unconstitutional. No future bill should be allowed to follow such a process by either party ... ever.
Democrats would likely argue that we Republicans shouldn't worry about this and ought to trust them because they're looking out for us too. Fact is, even if they're correct, they don't have the right or authority to make that decision for us. In fact, our founders admonished all future legislative bodies to guard against the very 'majority oppression' we're now beginning to experience. They understood and explained that, in a Republic (at least for it to work properly), the majority party actually has a responsibility to ensure all minority parties DO get fair participation in the process rather than actively blocking them out. Undeniably, Democrats are failing miserably at this admonition.
I don't see how the above argument can be disproved. There is sufficient evidence of an unconstitutional process being used that The People should stand against. This should bother ALL Americans because it amounts to a hijacking of constitutional processes and fundamental, constitutionally-guaranteed rights. It's SO wrong on principle that we should not stand for it regardless of party. I'd ask Democrats to reflect as objectively as possible whether they'd stand for this happening the other way around. It's simply really, really bad for America to go down such a path.
Our freedoms, republic (representative) form of government, constitutional rights (like conservative's rights to representation and free speech), and constitutional principles are evaporating before our eyes and most Americans don't seem to understand what's happening. Perhaps it's so unfathomable that people are in denial ... it can't happen here. I have news for you. It's been happening and is accelerating. It's wrong and it must stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment