So I used to know how our government was supposed to work and it went something like this. People, mostly fellow citizens, expressed interest in being in office and announced their intentions to run for office. In their campaigns they would announce how they felt on the issues and what they intended to do about it if elected. If you took them at their word you would make a choice and vote for them.
Then a couple of things got in the way and no matter how the legislator believed or what they said, they had to satisfy other people before you the constituent. They were called the party faithful and lobbyists. If you didn't toe the line with these people, even if the hometown crowd loved you, your career was over. You could not pick and choose parts of their agenda. It was all or nothing.
In the likelihood you were elected, something else took center stage at the old Capitol come session time. You had to effectively destroy, repeal or abolish any and all legislation that had been enacted in the last session. Or, and this is a new one lately, if you couldn't do that, the president would just announce an executive order and that made everything null and void.
So let's see what we have now. All laws are temporary. If you can't change them in Congress, you just ask the Supreme Court to declare them null and void because the judges, who were supposed to safeguard the constitution, belong to the party faithful.
Our forefathers would be appalled at what we've done to their constitution. Abraham Lincoln uttered these words: "That the government of the people, by the people and for the people should not perish from the earth." Want a bet Abe?
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Mike Holst
Crosslake
