What is a democracy?  In its purest form it is a system where a group of people get together and agree that all issues before them will be settled by a majority vote of that group.  It is a “one man, one vote” system.  Now ladies, don’t get your hackles up.  I of course include you in the process, so let’s call it instead a “one person, one vote” system. 

It has rarely functioned in that manner where governments are concerned.  It is too unwieldily.  Our system of government in this country isn’t a democracy, it is a Democratic Republic.  That, simply stated, is a system where people elect individuals to represent them, and have an elected or appointed President instead of a Monarch.

So far, so good, and that system, with slight modifications, has served us well since this nation was formed and our Constitution written by the Founding Fathers.  They wisely included provisions to allow Federal officials to be “Impeached” and removed from office if they were found guilty of “High crimes and misdemeanors”.  This is a very serious business, and has rarely be done in our history.  Some states mirrored these provisions when they wrote their State Constitutions as well.

However, as I write this, the system is beginning to unravel.  Politicians in all levels of our government, including federal, state and local, are NOT voting the wishes of their constituents, but rather their personal interpretations of what should be adopted as law or procedures.  Since there are no term limits on the federal level, and very few in place elsewhere, the power of incumbency keeps politicians in office far past their usefulness to their constituents.  They feel they are answerable to no one but themselves.  This has got to stop.

A classic example of the abuse of power by an elected official is Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox.  The Utah State Legislature passed a bill which would prohibit biological males from participating in female sporting events.  Stating that such a measure would “damage” transgender youth, Cox vetoed the measure.  In response, both houses of the Utah Legislature overrode his veto as they should have.  The people of Utah elected Cox, but they also elected their congressional representatives, who are directly responsive to their districts.

When politicians go “rogue” and vote on issues based on their own opinions, rather than the expressed wishes of a majority of their constituents, they must be taken to task for their actions.  On a national level, some Democratic Senators like Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have learned that lesson.  Others, like Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) have not.  My suggestion to these two, and other “RINO” Republicans is either change your party affiliation or become left leaning “Independents” like Bernie Sanders.  Your current stance makes a mockery of what our Republic is supposed to stand for.  What is that?  As Abraham Lincoln so admirably put it in his Gettysburg Address, it is:

“Government OF the People, BY the People, and FOR the People”.

It is not, like so many current politicians seem to feel, government at the whims of those we elect based on their promises during their campaign.  We must get back to the principles the Founding Fathers gave us in our Constitution, or we will lose our country forever.