As the election gets close, we are reading about, watching and listening to candidates for many political positions. In today’s world, it is hard to determine what is true and what is not, regardless of which candidates are sharing the information.
What strikes me as especially important in this election is that voters take the time to get to really know how the candidates will work with others once elected. Both our national Constitution and our state Constitution are designed with a Senate, a House of Representatives and an executive leader (president or governor).
Our leaders who established that format basically looked at the known basic forms of government ranging from total democracy to dictatorship. The most fair government, but the least efficient and slowest working, was pure democracy. The most efficient, but most potentially dangerous, was dictatorship. Luckily, our leaders arrived at a very workable compromise: a democratic republic with a president with veto powers, whose veto can be overridden by a strong majority vote of both the Senate and the House. And a Supreme Court has responsibility to adjudicate the laws.
After the U.S. Constitution was approved, it was learned that at times, there would not be enough time for discussion to deal with national emergencies, so the president was given power to act in those situations. But otherwise, if the president had a particular idea, it was expected that he would have either a senator or a member of the House of Representatives sponsor a bill with the proposed idea. It was expected that the House of Representatives and Senate would work together to make or change laws that would be best for the country and its citizens, regardless of who sponsored the bill.
Nobody expected that the approved format would mean that everyone would always agree and be civil to each other. Governments have been around as long as mankind, moving back and forth between forms of democracy and dictatorship. Our first president, George Washington, in his farewell address, warned us about the party spirit: “One of the expedients of party ... is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations.”
It was never intended that the president would write bills or totally control the government. It was intended that the president would allow the two houses to debate and discuss bills, and if in his or her wisdom he or she couldn’t live with a bill, he or she could veto it. And then if the two houses felt strongly about what they had done, they could over-ride that veto.
I hope voters in this election will look at candidates’ willingness to work with others to craft bills that are in the best interest of the state or country, regardless of which party initiates the bills; leaders who are willing to allow elected legislators to vote according to their consciences without fear of being accused of disloyalty; leaders who will lead, not push.
Fred Ash is legislative chairman of the Utah Retired School Employees Association.