Don't let your schooling interfere with your education.
~ Pete Seeger

Monday, September 1, 2008

A Constitutional Aside

I've heard a lot of people say that this country is one where the majority rules. I don't think it's as simple as that. I believe that our Founding Parents wisely established a three-legged stool of government to balance the convictions of the majority with the needs of the minority.

In high school civics class, I was taught that the purpose of the legislative branch of government is to make laws, the executive branch to enforce them, and the judicial branch to interpret them. I think this is really their roles, not their purposes – what they do, not the intent behind what they do.

The real purpose of the legislative branch is to establish the will of the majority of our citizens.

And the purpose of the judicial branch is to protect the minority from tyranny by the majority. In other words, to make sure that any law passed by the majority impacts all people equally; and that the majority cannot make laws that violate the rights of the minority.

This system doesn't work perfectly – the judiciary is too easily swayed by majority opinion or personal conviction – but often it works pretty darn well. A good case is California, where the California Supreme Court made the correct call in requiring that the laws of marriage apply equally to all people. That is the purpose of the court, doing what it is meant to do, doing what it does best.

Discussion?

3 comments:

David and Sarah Carrel said...

I agree that it does not always work well. The judges should be nominated by the President who is chosen by a majority of the people. The way to get elected is to represent the people as accurately as possible. I guess that is my thoughts on how it should work ideally. But then again, rarely does the ideal happen.

Seda said...

That's why judges are appointed instead of elected - to free them from the obligation to follow the will of the majority, and instead focus on making sure that the will of the majority does not infringe on the rights and liberty of the minority.

All laws should impact everyone the same. And our current laws regarding marriage do not.

Unknown said...

Majority and minority is based on a corruption and violation of Natural Law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_law

United we stand divided we fall. A great place to begin a critique of US Constitution

The division game will end when we stop taking sides.

Then we can begin again working and figuring out what we are doing here.

Franklin and Madison got most of it (The Great Law aka Iroquois Constitution) "writ" but missed the council of women elders having final say and the rule of seven generations as well as no one nation may act in a way that harms another.

Time for amendments? :)

Still don't forget that 5th dimension possibilities can't be found in the past outcomes. There is only one history no matter how many books or laws are written. Though heuristically speaking i think In Lak'esh is the place to start the eschatology.

http://www.breakfornews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=15181#15181
With a grain of salt and a mustard seed, we start to begin.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
~Helen Keller

Reading List for Information about Transpeople

  • Becoming a Visible Man, by Jamison Green
  • Conundrum, by Jan Morris
  • Gender Outlaw, by Kate Bornstein
  • My Husband Betty, by Helen Boyd
  • Right Side Out, by Annah Moore
  • She's Not There, by Jennifer Boylan
  • The Riddle of Gender, by Deborah Rudacille
  • Trans Liberation, by Leslie Feinberg
  • Transgender Emergence, by Arlene Istar Lev
  • Transgender Warriors, by Leslie Feinberg
  • Transition and Beyond, by Reid Vanderburgh
  • True Selves, by Mildred Brown
  • What Becomes You, by Aaron Link Raz and Hilda Raz
  • Whipping Girl, by Julia Serano

I have come into this world to see this:
the sword drop from men's hands even at the height
of their arc of anger
because we have finally realized there is just one flesh to wound
and it is His - the Christ's, our
Beloved's.
~Hafiz