Flyover Country

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.

I’m watching the end of the State of the Union address by President Obama and the members of congress are lining up for autographs from the President.  Has this ever happened before? Maybe I’ve just never noticed it.  It’s a bit disconcerting.  It seems as though these people should be the least affected by the messiah complex.  How are you supposed to provide oversight and checks and balances if you are googly-eyed over him?

If anyone out there knows if this has happened before, will you let me know?  Leave me a comment or drop me an email.

Anyway, the speech itself was nothing remarkable.  More of the same.. blah, blah, blah, spending, blah, blah, blah, more spending, blah, blah, blah, socialism.  Ok, he didn’t say “socialism” specifically.  You had to read between the lines.

Governor Bobby Jindal is doing a good job with the response.  I liked when he talked about making the country better by putting the power in the hands of the people and not the government.  I wish more people felt that way.