Federal Government Dysfunctional
Dysfunctional is the best description of the federal government today. The United States is no longer the model democracy for the rest of the world.
Domestically, the powers of the government were spread among three independent branches that were to be checks and balances on each other. The legislature was to make the laws. The courts were to interpret the laws. The executive was to enforce the laws.
For the checks and balances to work, politics has to play a role. This is the politics of President Lyndon Johnson--“Politics is the art of compromise.”
Unfortunately, politics has recently taken a licking. The Supreme Court is now evenly divided four and four between liberal and conservative. Neither side is willing to give even a little to reach a solution, leaving the latest rulings by the Circuit Courts of Appeal as the law on the subject in their circuits.
The situation is even worse in the Congress. There are now four parties vying for control--the Democrats, the far left Democrats under the tutelage of Harry Reid, the Republicans, and the far right Republicans knuckled under Ted Cruz.
The recent nearly unanimous over ride of President Obama’s veto of the 9/11 survivors bill is a rare compromise vote opposed by Reid and a small handful of others.
Regardless of the results of the national elections next month, the chances of political compromise returning to the halls of Congress are small. The stalemate in SCOTUS, however, should be corrected if new appointees can be approved by a recalcitrant Senate.
Only time will tell.
In foreign affairs, the situation is even worse. The Constitution leaves foreign relations in the exclusive domain of the Presidency. The Congress is left just a bit of balance in requiring Senate approval of treaties and allowing Congress some control through controlling the purse strings.
As mentioned here earlier, the last eight years will be recorded as the worst period of U.S. foreign relations in history. We have gone from being the leader of the world to a second rate follower. Red lines were drawn in the sand but never enforced. A U.S. Ambassador was killed under circumstances that could have been prevented and then the circumstances were covered up.
Subsequently, in a Congressional investigation of the cover-up, Secretary of State Clinton testified, “What does it matter now!”
Clinton also pressed a reset button with Russia’s Foreign Minister. The reset was the crumbling of diplomatic relations with Russia.
That allowed Russia to begin annexing territory like Crimea and Chechenia, to invade Ukraine, to kill about 10,000 civilians in Syria, and to become allied with Iran.
About the same time, all troops were pulled out of Iraq because Obama and Clinton would not require a Status of Forces Agreement that would have allowed the troops to stay there and prevent the establishment of a Muslim Caliphate.
Also, four dangerous al Qaeda operatives who were expected to return immediately to their terrorist organizations were released from GITMO as ransom for an Army deserter. Not too long after that, a billion dollars in foreign currency was transferred by the US to arch enemy Iran as ransom for the release of four Americans.
A secret deal was negotiated with Iran to get them to slow, but not stop completely, acquiring nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions and returning the money that Shaw had paid for military hardware. Some of that money is now being funneled to al Qaeda and ISIS.
China is allowed to assert more influence and establish more military territory by building islands in the Pacific and refuses U.S. requests for assistance in curtailing North Korea’s head long rush into ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons to our West Coast.
This partial list of foreign policy disasters lay at the feet of President Obama. Most of this disastrous and unnecessary slide into ineffectiveness as world leaders occurred or began when Hillary Clinton was his Secretary of State.
Obviously electing Hillary Clinton as President would be a vote to continue or worsen that disaster. It is hard to understand, therefore, the claim that electing Donald Trump would ruin our foreign policy.
Even harder to comprehend is the claim that a President Trump would lead us into WWIII. Those who believe that must have their heads in the same hole as Obama.
The U.S. has been engaged in WWIII since 9/11/2001. We are dropping bombs daily from planes and drones over Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The enemy there and throughout the world is a Muslim Terrorist Caliphate, an organization that Obama and Clinton will not even recognize as existing.
So here’s the perspective.
The U.S. is losing the 15 year old World War III under the leadership of President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Electing Clinton to the Presidency would not alter that downward spiral one centimeter.
Maybe Trump would return us to a world leadership role. There is no way he could make it worse than it is. Dysfunctional is the best description of the federal government today.
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