Who do you mean “you folks”?
It’s really hard to parse out our support for or our opposition to a policy of the government. The examples abound. A generation ago it was the Viet Nam war. Today, it’s the Iraq war.
Embedded in those issues is whether we like the government lying to us, which it did in a first class manner in both wars. It lied to us about Hurricane Katrina, social security reform, medicare part D prescription drug programs, etc. The government, in this case the Supreme Court, has lied about abortion since 1973. The government is lying about the rights of detainees in Cuba.
The senators lie about campaign reform and about the way influence is peddled in Washington. etc. etc.
If you live in this country, what is the alternative for you as a citizen?
Well, I’ll tell you one thing. We need a national referendum. The constitution vests all legislative authority in Congress, and we need to pull back on that. We need a chance to vote on issues directly, not just indirectly by supporting one candidate or slate of candidates.
This is power that the founding fathers explicitly did NOT want the people to have, for just the wild results that it may produce. But, I still think that the PEOPLE should have the right to vote on issues directly, twice a year, to circumvent the logjams in Congress.
How do we do this? I’m not quite sure, but I’d say this should be done outside the three existing branches of government. If a national referendum was enacted directly by the people, then the last stop is the president’s desk, for his / her signature. Then, too, the SC gets into the act down the road, as with any legislation.
