The Council For A Livable World was founded in 1962. Its purpose statement indicates that it is "a nonpartisan nonprofit promoting policies to reduce and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons, and to minimize the risk of war through lobbying and by helping elect and support Members of Congress who share our goals."
I am on the Council's email contact list, and here is a message I recently received:
Gary,
The Trump administration's approach to governing has been unsurprisingly chaotic. However, the swiftness and sheer volume of bad policy decisions has been shocking. The damage being done in the name of so-called efficiency will be long-lasting and hard to remedy, if it is allowed to continue unchecked.
We urge you not to get distracted by things only meant to stir outrage. It is becoming clearer by the day, however, that an effort is underway to dismantle institutions and policies that have a long history of helping Americans and are a crucial part of our national security infrastructure. That cannot be allowed to happen unrestrained.
At Council for a Livable World, we know there are Members of Congress who are willing to push back, who are willing to do something....
I got this email on the very same morning that The New York Times ran a story indicating that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has joined the "Trump entourage," and is now intentionally working to make sure that the House, as part of the legislative branch of government, will do what the president wants, and won't challenge any of his extra-legal actions.
This approach to government (defering to the executive) is totally and absolutely contrary to the role that the Constitution sets out for the Congress. The Constitution sees the legislative branch of government as "independent" of the executive branch, which means that Congress is supposed to serve as a "check and balance" on the power of the president. The Senate seems to be acting in a similar manner to the House, and that is because both the House and the Senate are currently controlled by Republican members, and because those Republican Members of the Congress are clearly intimidated by the president and his henchman-in-chief, who just happens to be the wealthiest person in the world, and who has made clear that he will use his wealth to defeat any elected official who doesn't toe his line.
Ultimately, it is "we, the people" who are the government. That's what the Constitution says. Our representatives are supposed to "represent" us, and our ideas, and are not supposed to do whatever the president says.
Because our government has become "partisan," a feature not contemplated in the Constitution, it is important that "Republican" Members of Congress understand that their allegience is supposed to be to "the people," the voters who installed them in office, and not to the president and his wealth-endowed supporters. It is pretty clear that lots of people, including lots of elected officials, have forgotten this, or who have been scared off, or who don't think they actually can prevail, if they go up against the president.
Given that reality, it will be up to "the people," ordinary voters, and particularly Republican voters, to start asserting their power over the representatives they have put in office.
This will take a lot of work, and to accomplish what needs to be done, ordinary people are going to have to reallocate their time to "politcs," and to set up effective mechanisms to get voters (particularly Republican voters) to demand that the Members of Congress who represent them actually do what they, the voters, want.
I think it is likely that the president and his unelected agents (Elon Musk, et. al.) are NOT, actually, doing what a majoirity of the people really want. For instance, most voters want to "deescalate" the chance of a nuclear war, but the Trump group has already shown signs of heading in the opposite direction. There are lots of other examples, and that is likely to be increasingly true in the future. If I am right about that, then it will be up to "the people" to use their power to insist that their elected representatives will do what they, the people, want, not what the president wants.
Theoretically, the people are in charge. Making that happen in "real life" will require a tremendous organizing effort.
If we want to maintain a "livable world," we are going to have to get to work!
Image Credit:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comment!