God bless us and our delicate balance

Monday is Independence Day here in the United States of America. It’s hard to believe that it’s been two hundred forty-six years since we declared our independence. Granted, we still had a war to fight and a constitution and some basic amendments to that constitution to hammer out. We had state government powers to balance with the powers of the federal government… and we had details, details, and more details to argue about, compromise on, and make them work. It took years and a civil war to work out some of the problems. As we all know… we are still working on it. That our government has lasted almost two hundred and fifty years is truly a miracle.

The idea of a constitutional democratic republic was a new idea. Oh, there were some democratic governments where laws were made by the voting majority. The minorities in these situations were out of luck. These were considered democracies, but the laws were made by the wealthy powerful majority, leaving the rights of the minority unprotected… no constitution. We didn’t have our constitution until years after we won our independence. It took some very hard work to balance the powers, protect the people, and actually make it work.

One time when I was teaching American History, I randomly handed out encyclopedias. The assignment was to find governments which functioned under a constitution, elected representatives, and protected all the people. The students were to flip through the encyclopedias, looking for countries which met the requirements. They were surprised at how many democratic republics were in the world. We made cards on which the names of the countries were printed and the dates for the establishment of their constitutions were noted. The cards were hung on the wall… in chronological order. Ours was first.

None of these constitutions was perfect… including ours. In 1863, almost a hundred years after the American Revolution, Abraham Lincoln defined a good government as “a government of the people, by the people, for the people …” This pretty well sums it up.

We limit the power of our leaders. Each branch of government has special powers and special responsibilities. Their powers are balanced by the other two branches: Congress can make laws, but done badly, these laws can be ruled unconstitutional. The Executive branch cannot make a law, but it can control how it “executes” a law. The Judicial branch can’t make a law, but it can certainly judge its constitutionality. Each branch must balance its powers with that of the others.

We’ve had a rough few years in these United States lately. The pandemic has put a strain on our freedoms and our economy. Power struggles in the world have put a strain on our energy sources. Climate change has strained transportation, food supplies, and our safety. Power struggles in our democratic republic have made many of us worry for our safety and the safety of our constitution.

I’m sure Ben Franklin worried about those who refused to agree with his ideas. George Washington wasn’t sure if his men would live through the winter. Abraham Lincoln wondered if he would live to see peace. They couldn’t be sure that “it would all work out.” Neither can we. The world changes, governments change, nature evolves, but we’ve got to keep faith in what is right, what is good, and what is Our America.