The ‘Separation of Powers’ Poppycock

Much is made of the separation of powers of the executive, justice and legislative branches of the government of United States, and its wonderful ‘checks and balances’. I have come to the realization that this is pure poppycock! In reality, the office of the President (Executive Branch) controls everything in this country. Take the Justice Branch for instance. The President appoints all the judges, including the justices of the Supreme Court. The President can nominate anyone as Supreme Court justice however limited ones legal background may be (remember Harriet Miers?). Is it any wonder that a Supreme Court stacked with justices appointed by Republican Presidents, intervened in the 2000 Presidential Election, and declared the Republican candidate George Bush the winner? On taking over the office, the President appoints a brand new team of U.S. Attorneys responsible for prosecuting the violators of the law in the country. As we recently found out, the President can also fire the US Attorneys if they do not prosecute their cases well (wink, wink). I do not know how anyone can claim that we have an independent judicial system in USA.

Of course, the Legislative Branch is expected to keep a close watch, and prevent any misuse of power by the Executive Branch. Is this really happening? The Republican dominated Congress under President Bush, rubber-stamped almost everything he wanted. Things are not different with the newly elected Congress with Democrats in control. Everyone is focused on getting re-elected which means not doing anything too controversial against the President. Despite of all the saber rattling about stopping the Iraq war, the Democrats meekly authorized the funding of the war as they did not want to be blamed for any aftermath of troop withdrawal. The biggest weapon the Congress has is its subpoena power, which allows them to call anyone to testify under oath. The only problem is that it is the Dept. of Justice, under the President, who can punish one for refusing to testify. In short, you can thumb your nose at the Congress subpoena if the President is on your side. Congress now wants to file charges of perjury against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. This means Dept. of Justice has to prosecute their own boss! How likely is that? What type of ‘check and balance’ is this?

Even the elections in this country cannot be trusted as they are supervised by people with clear political affiliations. Secretary Kathleen Harris who was in charge of the 2000 Florida election, was also the Chairperson of the Bush Campaign. She prematurely announcing Bush as the winner, is a sight I will never forget!

Anyone who claims that United States is one of the ideal democracies in the world, does not know what he is talking about.