Time for a Flyover Country history lesson.
When the Founding Fathers were forming our still young country, they wanted a system of government that would provide a method of what are called “checks and balances”. They didn’t want a leader who would be like a king and could reign over his people with an iron fist. They also didn’t want a legislative body that could just run amok and pass laws that would not be in the country’s best interest. The system they chose was a representative republic with three branches of government that were equal in power and had a system in which each could watch over the others and keep tyranny from occurring.
The three branches are as follows:
Executive: Enforces laws
Legislative: Creates laws
Judicial: Interpret laws
This balance of power is very important. Over the course of history, the balance of power has shifted between the branches in various ways. Currently, however, I believe the balance of power is shifting in ways that are unprecedented and frightening. When the judicial branch, the courts, flee from their job of interpreting laws into the arena of “making policy” as Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s Supreme Court Justice pick, accidentally mentioned in the above video, the balance of power shifts dramatically from the legislative branch (the people) to the handful of judges who sit on our nations benches.
That video should send chills down the spine of very freedom-loving American.
