I wonder if in fact we are a functioning democracy. The Founding Fathers had some really good ideas, one of which involved checks and balances. The executive branch would have some power, the Supreme Court would have some power, and the Congress, with financial responsibility, would have some power.
Now, the executive branch has packed the court with ideologues, so there is no check or balance there, and the Republicans are cow-towing to their all-powerful leader, so they offer no balance either.
For example, we are selling our best military hardware to Saudi Arabia, a country that brutally killed a journalist working for an American newspaper, andwhich uses our rockets and bombs to kill innocent civilians in Yemen.
Congress has made a feeble attempt to stop this, but the president has gotten his way. There is now a long standing debate about the authorization to use military force. In essence, Congress has abdicated on its responsibilities to oversee any deployment of American troops.
Why do we have wars going on endlessly with little or no oversight? If this is indeed a functioning democracy, we all need to find our voices and speak up.
Robert H. Pfeiffer
Solon
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