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It behooves us to learn of the government gifted to us by the Founders and to understand its uniqueness at the time of its formation, and of its rarity today. It is its structure, formed by the Constitution, not the Bill of Rights, that gives us the freedom to speak and assemble freely, to worship as we please. Many authoritarian governments have a Bill of Rights more expansive than ours, yet their citizens live under totalitarianism. Ours is unique – three separate but equal branches, a bi-cameral legislature and a system of federalism. No matter which Party achieves the Presidency, it is in the interest of us all that its structure be maintained.
While the results of Tuesday’s Presidential election are unknown at the time this is written, there was no wave, not a blue one nor a red one. But that lack of a wave is worth celebrating, for, as everyone who lives near the shore can testify, waves can cause structural damage, to homes, piers, businesses, bridges and roads. Had Democrats won the White House, the Senate and kept the House, there was concern for the damage they might do: The progressive left would have tried to “pack” the Supreme Court, done away with the Electoral College, end the filibuster, and possibly add two new, assuredly Democratic, states – Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
The wisdom of our Founders was to create the government they did. It should receive more attention and greater appreciation. There is, in man, a proclivity to accumulate power. We have, as humans, innate tendencies for both good and evil. It was the latter that concerned James Madison when he warned, in Federalist 51, against that inclination: “But what is government itself, but the greatest reflection of all on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependency on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government, but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” It is an abrogation of separate but equal powers when the Supreme Court renders an opinion that is properly the venue of Congress, when the Executive circumvents Congress by issuing Executive Orders, or when Congress interferes unconstitutionally with the affairs of the Executive.