Of pendulums, power, and the people

To The Editor;
A system of checks and balances. This is our Republic. A government for the people, by the people.

While the musical strands of “Schoolhouse Rock” dance through our memories, it’s easy to forget that all the participants within the Republic are subject to these checks and balances, including the people by and for which the government derives its power. Yes, even the citizen cannot have liberty without responsibility.

The citizenry without checks upon its will, or more specifically, its whim, face the tendency to regress toward anarchy. Not willing to inhibit the individual liberty of any free citizen but keenly aware to guard against mob rule, the founders rejected pure or Direct Democracy in favor of a Republic. Benjamin Franklin warned in our national infancy that we were, “ A Republic, if we can keep it.”

The “keep it” is the diligence to the responsibilities and burdens of liberty. The maintaining of checks and balances. For its dual purpose, a balance and check is clearly reflected in the Electoral College.

Without the Electoral College, elections would be decided by heavily populated urban areas and rural America would be ignored. By design, this electoral system insures that all geographical areas of the Republic would be represented equally. The Founding Fathers also knew, by their careful study of history, that the cities were more susceptible to the frequent popular swings of the political pendulum.

Those who can conjure the grievance, inflame the crowds, and ride the populace swell of emotion hold the power in a Direct Democracy. This is why those in political power wish to abolish the Electoral College. Like with the gerrymandered voting system of Ranked Choice Voting, it is a thinly veiled attempt to silence the vote and voice of rural America.

Andy Torbett
Atkinson