Many Americans wonder what the role of the Supreme Court is. As the final arbiter of the law, the court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and thereby also functions as guardian of the Constitution.
This does not mean legislating from the bench, which some refer to as judicial activism, or blowing with the wind of popular opinion of the day, but rather making decisions based on constitutional principles.
If people seek a specific policy outcome, they should attempt to achieve that through the legislative process. That’s how our Founding Fathers intended our republic to function. Expecting a court to approve a policy through judicial fiat when Congress is unable to approve that same policy is counter to our political process.
Many Americans seek judicial direction on policy issues due to Congress’ ineptitude. Problems quite often don’t get solved as politicians posture to gain partisan advantage in the next election.
The reason for this inaction is that many in Congress don’t feel any sense of accountability to the people. They avoid making decisions on difficult challenges.
The Social Security “Trust” Fund is actuarily unsound. Congress’ attitude is to let someone else worry about that; they don’t want to tinker with the “third rail” of American politics on their watch. Due to this intransigence, the problem simply worsens.
Without reform, the Medicare Trust Fund is projected to finance only 91 percent of costs by 2026. This means major program cuts or tax increases (or both) will have to be made unless an alternative solution is developed.
Meanwhile, many politicians want to expand this to Medicare for all. Considering Medicare’s financial instability, expanding it makes about as much sense as a diabetic, against the advice of any medical professional, tripling the amount of carbohydrates and sugar they consume.
Republicans expect their leaders to promote fiscal responsibility to ensure the long-term viability of these important programs.
The problem is this lack of action cascades down into the general population. For far too long during the pandemic, the federal government paid people not to work. So, guess what? Many people dropped out of the workforce. Labor force participation is at its lowest level in years. There are jobs available everywhere; the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Unions used the pandemic to feather the nests of their members. Among the worst are teacher unions that refused to go back in the classrooms in many communities. Weak politicians caved into their demands and kept kids at home for far too long.
The result was severe academic loss. And now these same people demand more money to “fix” a problem they helped create. Republicans oppose wasteful spending while supporting responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
Thankfully here in Boerne our schools were among the first to reopen in the state. While the federal pandemic aid/student our local schools received was a fraction of the average district in America, it was used wisely on things that improved academic achievement. Boerne ISD’s standardized test scores are now where they were prior to the pandemic, while the vast majority of districts in the state and nation continue to lag.
Instead of dealing with problems, many politicians often bloviate. The citizens then follow their lead. Look no further than social media. Discussions don’t occur, but rather one-sided rants and attacks of both a political and personal nature. Extremism, rather than reason, dominates.
I’ve criticized leftist/Marxist groups and their financial backers. To me, these radicals hate America, plain and simple. They continue to foment violence and division.
But I would be remiss if I did not point out radicals on the far right. Matthew 7:3 says, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
Groups that may espouse white supremacy or violence against the government do not represent American values. We in the GOP repudiate those individuals who falsely claim to be conservatives.
Republicans encourage our national leadership to repudiate the extremists on their side of the political fence.
Hate is hate. At a time of national division, it would be wise to remember Jesus’ commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. This advice should be shared in every public arena, community forum, church and yes, school.
It’s time to stop the vitriol and get to work on solving our nation’s problems.
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