The Decline Of Congress And Our Citizens

I recently sent the following letter to the New York Times:

Date: May 13, 2016 8:33:07 AM
Subject: U.S. ISSUES NOTICE ON STUDENTS WHO ARE TRANSGENDER
To: letters@nytimes.com

May 13, 2016

Dear Editor:

The President is showing his resolve. At home if not abroad.

The Supreme Court, having discovered the right of privacy (not mentioned in the Constitution) to guarantee the right of contraception (not mentioned in the Constitution), it seems perverse that the President would arbitrarily deny privacy to the majority of students in order to satisfy the demands of the transgender (not mentioned in the Constitution) minority and their supporters. Is the next step unisex toilets or the imposition of the policy on the military?

When do the people get a say? Will our next chance be when we evaluate Secretary Clinton's agreement with the President's views?

Not surprisingly the letter was not published.

The Supreme Court has, for many years, arrogated the rights of Congress by deciding what they meant, what they should have meant, and the general acceptability of the laws they have passed. Congress has abrogated the obligation to legislate by authorizing Executive branch committees to interpret what they mean and to make regulations which have the force of law.

And the President has all but assumed the power to legislate by directing the implementation of such rules with little effective oversight. Political decision have taken precedence over any other considerations.

The only unrepresented group has been the American People – in whose name these actions are being taken.

In the case mentioned above the new rule (transgender “rights” – minority “rights” – which I've discussed in other essays) was imposed unilaterally by the President without consultation with Congress, and certainly without any determination of its acceptability by the American People. And the President's assumption of “Executive Power” has resulted in the imposition of numerous rules and policies, though Congress should have been the decision maker. When necessary, the President has bullied Congress into passing legislation that he can use to justify his positions, and which he believes will provide cover for him when he is challenged in court. At the moment, the Supreme Court is weakened by the absence of one member and is unlikely to make any momentous decisions. Since so many of them have been political in origin that's not entirely a bad thing, but it is contrary to checks and balances system set up in our Constitution. In this instance it's likely that a decision won't be reached for many years and then only when it's a moot point. That's often the case with the court system, but it's probable that the delays will be even greater now (and, since the President will nominate a new Justice, the composition of the Court must be an important consideration for voters).

On paper Congress is a powerful body. The Constitution says so. We the People have made it so. But in reality it has surrendered much of its power, and much has been taken from it, so that it has diminished from the dominant body to the most dependent. Perhaps that's not what we wanted, but we were never asked. Has the time come for us to make our voices heard?