[Looking at history and our area’s unique political and religious attitudes.]

Civics was in the day. Until recent years, the education process included Civics as a required course on entering high school. As youngsters were getting older, it was assumed they needed to know how to live and function within the society and within the government. That is a simple enough concept. Only 9 states require a year of Civics and eleven require none. Unfortunately, what is taught is often not traditional history, free-enterprise, and personal responsibility leading to a government with limited, defined powers.

What are the nation’s roots? First is the “Declaration of Independence” from the British monarchy, which defined why the nation was being formed. The second is the “Constitution,” which defined how the government was to operate. These are both very short directions. The “Declaration” is only six-pages, while the “Constitution” is a sparse 19-pages.

The “Declaration” cannot be modified because it was a one-time statement of intent. The “Constitution” is intentionally very difficult to modify, to keep it from being disrupted by whims.

Because of the difficulty in modifying the “Constitution” and the deliberation of Congress, the executive branch tends to skirt their limitations with executive orders and administrative law. In a ruling much more significant than most realize, the Supreme Court just a few weeks ago struck down much of the Administrative Law practices, called the Chevron doctrine.

This statement is from the scotusblog.com. “In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday cut back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer and ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretation of ambiguous laws. The decision will likely have far-reaching effects across the country, from environmental regulation to healthcare costs.”

This dramatic decision is a reaffirmation of limiting bureaucracy overreach and keeping the separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

That still leaves a very flexible group of laws called Executive Orders. In other words, the President can declare a wide-swath of activities without support from any other constituency. The big limitation is any subsequent President can strike these down with a single signature. For a law to be permanent, it must pass both Houses of Congress.

Let us back up to how the Declaration and the Constitution came about. The Second Continental Congress on June 11, 1776, selected a Committee of Five to draft a formal statement justifying the 13-Colonies separation from the mother country of Great Britain. Over the next 17-days an articulate intellectual, 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson, created the draft incorporating suggestions from 70-year-old polymath Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and 41-year-old statesman John Adams.

The other lesser known of the five were the wealthy chancellor, Robert Livingston, and self-made politician Roger Sherman, who is the only person to sign all four of the founding documents. He is the genius who developed the Electoral College, which gave small states a say in the election of President. Without his ingenious compromise plan the smaller population states would not join in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. From Day One, the President was never expected to be elected by popular vote.

The obvious observation about the country and all government practices is the word compromise. That is not a compromise of principles, but an agreement that we can work together even if we have differences. An alternate word is trade-offs.

We trade-off our time for a paycheck, which forces a compromise on the car and house we live in. No one gets everything they want, but we help each other to achieve a commonality of purpose in government.

A tendency among some more religious is to not work with others who may differ or not have reached their ‘level of perfection’. They do not like one’s politics and another’s personality, so they proclaim moral superiority and just not vote for either. How does that play out?

All these Founding Fathers were staunch Protestants of various persuasions, but each found a way to work together. President Jefferson and President Adams were colleagues who carried on a life-long feud over politics. They died on July 4, 1826, within 5-hours of each other, precisely 50-years after they founded the nation, steeped in historical irony.

Think about it. In our system, there are only two choices. ‘None-of-the-above’ is not a rational option and is not on the ballot. You are either part of the problem or part of the solution.  It is each citizen’s privilege and responsibility to vote for the candidate, who has the most potential for accomplishing your values. Just like in 1776, there are enough people of faith to swing any election to the better choice.