Guest commentary: Government serves ‘We the People’
Well it was an interesting February! I’ll start with a reminder that the League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization, focused primarily on voter rights and civic education. In this guest commentary, I’m going to focus squarely on civic education.
Our U.S. Constitution created three separate, but interrelated branches of our federal government. Our Congress — which must confirm or reject presidential appointees — sets and oversees the federal budget (the “power of the purse”) and is the only branch of the federal government that can declare war. Our judicial system ensures that laws are enforced, and that the laws that are created follow the Constitution. And then there is the Executive Branch, which is led by the president, who serves as our head of state and commander-in-chief. Our Constitution also establishes a system of checks and balances that ensures that the three branches of the federal government keep each other true to the intent of the Constitution. If any of these descriptions are confusing, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) created some very helpful videos called “School House Rocks” to explain them in simpler terms.
What is happening in our country now is not a partisan issue. The Constitution is being blatantly ignored by the Executive Branch, and the checks and balances are not working as intended. Judges in several current court cases have already stopped or overturned Executive Branch action, including the indiscriminate and illegal firing of federal government employees and the stopping of federal funding for government programs approved by Congress or the prior executive administration. The current executive administration has ignored many of these court orders. Despite being ordered by the courts to restore the funding cuts set in motion by an unelected and unconfirmed leader (Elon Musk), none of the funding has been restored, and many of the federal government employees responsible for ensuring these programs run have been let go. Services that people depend on, such as Veterans Affairs and Social Security, have already seen significant cuts and more are expected. Although some of these employees have now been called back after realizing that essential work was harmed, those same employees are wondering when the next shoe will fall. And to describe this as an “efficient” process is a great exaggeration.
Federal government employees — from the lowest ranking person to the highest ranked individual — work for us, the people of the United States. No one person in the federal government works “for” the president. They all work for us to ensure that every citizen of the United States has the “unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
We all have the right and responsibility to hold our representatives in the government accountable to us to follow the Constitution, to have the right to freely speak about our concerns, and the right to free and fair elections.
I encourage all of you to use your rights and speak up. Call your representative — here in Florida, and if you also live elsewhere, in that state as well. You can find who your elected federal officials are by visiting https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials. Our government serves “We the People.”
Cathie Kozik is president of the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Sanibel. Working at the national, state and local levels, the LWV is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization that has fought since 1920 to improve systems of government and to impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. For more information, visit https://www.lwv.org/local-leagues/lwv-sanibel or the League of Women Voters of Sanibel on Facebook.