Constitutional System's Checks, Balances Gone

In view of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's announced retirement, we will now have a Republican president, a Republican majority in Congress and a Republican majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. The checks and balances of our government, whereupon rests our faith in the fairness and stability of our government, has just died a horrible death. If this event doesn't scare you, I don't know what would. Our two party system has worked well since its inception, because no party has ever had a majority in all three branches of government. It wouldn't be so alarming, except this administration has a religious extremist backbone, which is firmly connected to blind arrogance and an infallible attitude in all things. Anyone challenging the validity of their "divine" actions is publicly maligned as un-American and "helping their enemies." Our wonderful Constitution, which starts with "Of the People, By the People and For the People," is being transformed into "Of the Republicans, By the Republicans and For the Republicans." You won't hear the rich, big business, Wall Street, or religious extremists complain. They claim "dibs" to the highest paying members of the Republican Party and, not coincidentally, share the biggest tax benefits ever from this administration. There are no effective Democratic, Congressional, or legal safety gates or flashing stoplights left now. Nothing to prevent this Republican train from speeding down its narrow tracks to a totalitarian government. Everything the Republicans have politically coveted in the past will now become a reality. Christian fundamentalists and their religious doctrine are already flooding our legal and public systems while non-Christians are being thrown off the train. School prayer and vouchers, oil drilling in the Alaska wilderness and logging in our national forests are in, while abortion rights, Planned Parenthood and affirmative action, environmental protections and OSHA are all out. Not to mention what is left of our seriously eroded (Patriot Act) individual freedoms. I can only hope and pray Americans will finally stand up and say, "I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore." We must take tangible actions to voice our concerns and take action to impeach this corrupt duplicitous administration and restore our authentic Constitutional system of government, the way it was intended by our forefathers.

Paula Benjamin

Williamstown Printed in the Daily Journal, July 9, 2005 http://thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050709/OPINION03/507090320/1014/OPINION