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Reading over the headlines on Yahoo News, I particularly revolted by this story about how the House Republicans, on party lines, passed a bill barring the federal courts from considering challenges to the infamous words 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I was also struck by the juxtaposition with this one, about how the Florida Supreme Court struck down the law shoved through by Jeb Bush barring Terri Schiavo's husband from letting his dead wife's body stop taking up a hospital bed.
I'm not going to rant on either of the specific issues these laws are directed at, even though they are both worthy of some ranting on their own. The real issue that gets my goat today is the contempt that legislators display for the concept of separation of powers. Once they think they are on the Morally Right side of an issue, they seem to forget that we have three branches of government in America for good reasons, and only a change in the Constitution can change the balance between them.
Congressmen for sure, and I assume Florida state legislators also, take an oath of office to uphold their respective Constitutions. At what point does passing legislation that deliberately undermines the Constitution become more than an issue for the voters to consider in the next election and rise to something for which they should be impeached or even charged with treason?
I was also struck by the juxtaposition with this one, about how the Florida Supreme Court struck down the law shoved through by Jeb Bush barring Terri Schiavo's husband from letting his dead wife's body stop taking up a hospital bed.
I'm not going to rant on either of the specific issues these laws are directed at, even though they are both worthy of some ranting on their own. The real issue that gets my goat today is the contempt that legislators display for the concept of separation of powers. Once they think they are on the Morally Right side of an issue, they seem to forget that we have three branches of government in America for good reasons, and only a change in the Constitution can change the balance between them.
Congressmen for sure, and I assume Florida state legislators also, take an oath of office to uphold their respective Constitutions. At what point does passing legislation that deliberately undermines the Constitution become more than an issue for the voters to consider in the next election and rise to something for which they should be impeached or even charged with treason?