Posted on 11/27/2009 1:57:59 PM PST by loveliberty2
The Constitution was devised with an ingenious and intricate built-in system of checks and balances to guard the people's liberty against combinations of government power. It structured the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary separate and wholly independent as to function, but coordinated for proper operation, with safeguards to prevent usurpations of power. Only by balancing each against the other two could freedom be preserved, said John Adams.
Another writer of the day summarized clearly the reasons for such checks and balances:
"If the LEGISLATIVE and JUDICIAL powers are united, the MAKER of the law will also INTERPRET it (constitutionality).
Should the EXECUTIVE and LEGISLATIVE powers be united... the EXECUTIVE power would make itself absolu te, and the government end in tyranny.
Should the EXECUTIVE and JUDICIAL powers be united, the subject (citizen) would then have no permanent security of his person or property.
"INDEED, the dependence of any of these powers upon either of the others ... has so often been productive of such calamities... that the page of history seems to be one continued tale of human wretchedness." (Theophilus Parsons, ESSEX RESULTS)
What were some of these checks and balances believed so important to individual liberty? Several are listed below:
HOUSE (peoples representatives) is a check on SENATE - no statute becomes law without its approval.
SENATE is a check on HOUSE - no statute becomes law without its approval. (Prior to 17th Amendment, SENATE was appointed by State legislatures as a protection for states' rights - another check the Founders provided.)
EXECUTIVE (President) can restrain both HOUSE and SENATE by using Veto Power.
LEGISLATIVE (Congress - Senate & House) has a check on EXECUTIVE by being able to pass, with 2/3 majority, a bill over President's veto.
LEGISLATIVE has further check on EXECUTIVE through power of discrimination in appropriation of funds for operation of EXECUTIVE.
EXECUTIVE (President) must have approval of SENATE in filling important posts in EXECUTIVE BRANCH.
EXECUTIVE (President) must have approval of SENATE before treaties with foreign nations can be effective.
LEGISLATIVE (Congress) can conduct investigations of EXECUTIVE to see if funds are properly expended and laws enforced.
EXECUTIVE has further check on members of LEGISLATIVE (Congress) in using discretionary powers in decisions regarding establishment of military bases, building & improvement of navigable rivers, dams, interstate highways, etc., in districts of those members.
JUDICIARY is check on LEGISLATIVE through its authority to review all laws and determine their constitutionality.
LEGISLATIVE (Congress) has restraining power over JUDICIARY, with constitutional authority to restrict extent of its jurisdiction.
LEGISLATIVE has power to impeach members of JUDICIARY guilty of treason, high crimes, or misdemeanors.
EXECUTIVE (President) is check on JUDICIARY by having power to nominate new judges.
LEGISLATIVE (Senate) is check on EXECUTIVE and JUDICIARY having power to approve/disapprove nominations of judges.
LEGISLATIVE is check on JUDICIARY - having control of appropriations for operation of federal court system.
LEGISLATIVE (Peoples Representatives) is check on both EXECUTIVE and J U DICIARY through power to initiate amendments to Constitution subject to approval by 3/4 of the States.
LEGISLATIVE (Senate) has power to impeach EXECUTIVE (President) with concurrence of 2/3, of members.
The PEOPLE, through their State representatives, may restrain the power of the federal LEGISLATURE if 3/4 of the States do not ratify proposed Constitutional Amendments.
LEGISLATIVE, by Joint Resolution, can terminate certain powers granted to EXECUTIVE (President) (such as war powers) without his consent.
It is the PEOPLE who have final check on both LEGISLATIVE and EXECUTIVE when they vote on their Representatives every 2 years, their Senators every 6 years, and their President every 4 years. Through those selections, they also influence the potential makeup of the JUDICIARY.
It is up to each generation to see that the integrity of the Constitutional structure for a free society is maintained by carefully preserving the system of checks and balances essential to limited and balanced government. "To preserve them (is) as necessary as to institute them," said George Washington.
Footnote: Our Ageless Constitution, W. David Stedman & La Vaughn G. Lewis, Editors (Asheboro, NC, W. David Stedman Associates, 1987) Part III: ISBN 0-937047-01-5, Reprinted 2008
Today's generations have not been taught the intricate ways by which the Framers structured the government in order to fulfill the stated goals of its Preamble.
This essay is one of many in the volume, "Our Ageless Constitution," which explains an underlying idea or principle of the Constitution that, itself, carried out the philosophy of the Declaration of Independence.
If citizens better understood the constitutional power they hold, perhaps they would begin to do what Jefferson suggested: "bind them [elected representatives] down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."
For more information about other principles underlying our liberty, see
It even worked for a while...
I think the real genius is that the Constitution was designed to use competing interests to keep power in check, very much like a market economy.
Wise observation. And, isn't it interesting that Adam Smith, the great moral philosopher turned economic theorist, wrote his great treatise on "The Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" within the same time period as our own Declaration of Independence?
It seems that was by no coincidence that his ideas of the workings of a market system in a free society took hold in this most free place on earth!
His ideas represent the economic dimension of freedom.
IMO, this is the great threat that we are now facing. 2010 elections should prove quite interesting.
With all this to strive for and accomplish we MUST NOT allow those who have broken the law and bastardized thier oath of office to remain free.
and one of the key reasons this country has broken down is one of the key checks was removed by progressives (marxists) in 1913 - the 17th amendment. By removing the State’s from controlling the Senate, the Senate became the same as the House except with longer terms in office. Without that check, the balance completely moved to the Federal government and facilitated unchecked growth. The 9th and 10th amendments became in effect, null and voided by the 17th.
Bingo!
Somebody finally got it. The Constitution was never intended to operate in a vacuum. It was designed to operate in the context of a union of sovereign states. The reason the Federal government is out of control is rooted in the destruction of the independence of the states.
So for those of you expecting the Constitution to save us, call me after the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th amendments have been repealed. Until then, the Federal government will reign unchecked whether it is controlled by Democrat gangsters or Republican gangsters. Surely recent history has taught us that.
LOL. What a crock. I'm with Patrick Henry on this one:
But now, Sir, the American spirit, assisted by the ropes and chains of consolidation, is about to convert this country to a powerful and mighty empire: If you make the citizens of this country agree to become the subjects of one great consolidated empire of America, your Government will not have sufficient energy to keep them together: Such a Government is incompatible with the genius of republicanism: There will be no checks, no real balances, in this Government: What can avail your specious imaginary balances, your rope-dancing, chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contrivances?
200+ years have proven the so-called checks and balances to be worthless at preserving liberty. The national government has expanded its power steadily and consistently, with no end in sight. All 3 branches have collaborated on this.
The creation of a national consolidated government was an awful mistake.
The Constitution is the REASON for the destruction of the independence of the states.
"I feel your pain." (To coin a phrase)
But will respectfully disagree. Constitutionally limited government worked, at least for a while. And it can be made to work again. Maybe not in our lifetime, but someday. After all, it took a war to destroy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt1fYSAChxs
President Reagan well spoken and as timely as ever.
I mean VERY timely.
Thanks. “Our Ageless Constitution” will be my God-Daughter’s Christmas gift.
ping
I have written exactly the same thing many times!
The 17th Amendment enabled our current acts of tyranny.
That is the same logic that gun control advocates use to disarm us. Guns are the reason for all these crimes, not the people!
It is not so much what you have, but how you use or abuse it. Any form of government would have succumbed to the abuses waged by today's liberal faction. It is not the Constitution's fault....it is ours.
Good stuff. Thanks for the ping.
Thanks for the link.
“The 17th Amendment enabled our current acts of tyranny.”
And the bastards needed a “dumbed down” population to tolerate the tyranny, and the NEA took care of that over the last 40 years.
WTF are you talking about?
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