Heading for a Brick Wall--Wear a Helmet!

With all the talk about the President deciding in mid February to either ‘shut down the government again’ or ‘declare a national emergency’ to get what he wants, I wonder what the members of Congress are thinking as they lie in bed and stare at the ceiling at night.

I can imagine that the people of America will have had just about enough if Trump tries either of those tactics.  The idea of enduring the recent 35 days all over again, or the establishment of a state of emergency that will affect literally millions of people is abhorrent.  I have to believe that there are many Republicans who are going to balk at either of those actions.

I wonder if there are any ‘working groups’ in Congress who are spending their time devising and conceiving plans to counter these threatened impending Trumpian moves.  Legislators need to be formulating a law/bill/action that prohibits the executive branch from unilaterally imposing a governmental shutdown.  It needs to be a measure that mandates that both houses of Congress bring approved measures to a vote within a defined time period.  

For example, this would prohibit people like Mitch McConnell from preventing the Senate from voting on a clearly overwhelming measure from the House that would have forced the issue with Trump.  Trump would have had to either veto a joint measure and survive the consequences of an override, or accede to the measure and sign it.  Either way we would not have had to endure the shutdown stalemate as long as we did. 

If McConnell, or any leader, has the kind of power that can stall the government, we are in great jeopardy as a democracy.  Measures to prohibit these kinds of actions are essential to making our government work better.  We need to elect people who will pursue this path.

The other action we need to be conceiving is how to prevent a President from declaring an emergency to be able to sidestep the Congress’ duty under the Constitution. Congress alone decides how our tax money is spent, not the President.  We cannot allow a rogue executive to re-allocate funds to serve his own personal needs or obsessions.  In any business I have ever seen, the board/shareholders can remove an executive or CEO who decides he is going to spend the shareholder’s money for personal reasons.  And make no mistake—Trump’s obsession with a border wall is personal- not supported by a clear majority of Americans and even the Congress.  It is his obsession based on a fallacious campaign promise. 

We all need to remember that Trump’s base is not the majority of the country.  Our democratic republic is based on the concept of majority rule.  We have seen so many nefarious efforts to abort majority rule over the past 240 years that we have arrived at a condition of paralysis because of it.  Results like preventing the Congress from acting on President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland; preventing the Senate from voting on the recent overwhelming House vote on opening the government; mandating 60 votes in the Senate for a majority; stopping the functioning of both houses of the Legislative branch by concentrating obstructive power in the hands of the leader of the Senate or the House—these are anti-democratic conditions that have lead to government by the minority.  That is not what the founders of this country intended.

Our government right now is being run by a coterie of white men who are intent on stuffing our judicial system with conservative judges; advancing voter suppression by gerrymandering state legislatures to insure their retention of power (look at Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Michigan et al.); passing outlandish restrictive voter registration laws, etc.  Our ‘more perfect union’ has been corrupted by the influence of money and special interests.  The only solution is a more aware citizenry, and a populace willing to take control of our voting power and make change happen.

In the meantime, let’s all pray that there are some smart legislators somewhere deep in the bowels of the Capitol who are coming up with some innovative ideas to put a roadblock in front of this mad runaway train called the Trump Express before it crashes into the wall, or steel slats, or other kinds of barriers!