Years ago, our family used guidelines or "standards" to conduct ourselves in our daily lives. We used (or tried to use) correct English in our conversations and in our written communications. We were taught manners to use at the dining table and manners to use when dealing with people. We were taught to respect our elders and people who held sway over our actions. We knew that if we did not follow certain "standards," we would suffer the wrath of our parents, school teachers, perhaps the local policeman, or anyone else who judged us by what we said and did.
These "standards" also applied to elected officials who wrote our laws. Legislation was passed by people of good faith who placed the U.S. Constitution and its original meaning at the forefront of their thoughts. A person who ran for public office was rarely questioned about his qualifications to do so because any person who aspired to a position of leadership had already proven himself/herself in a variety of ways. They were already leaders who possessed the qualities of good "standards."
It seems in this day and age, abiding by "standards" by some of our elected politicians has eroded a bit. We have people in elected positions to who "standards" of a lesser degree were either taught and/or learned. Basic knowledge of the U.S. Constitution reveals that there are three branches of the Federal government; Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, and, each branch has a set of "standards" to follow. The Legislative Branch is supposed to write the laws; the Judicial Branch is supposed to interpret the laws, and the Executive Branch is supposed to enact the laws. These are standards of the Federal government. For the Executive Branch to issue edicts or mandates that violate the Constitution; for the Legislative Branch to ignore their responsibility of correcting the Executive Branch; and for the Judicial Branch to pick "political" sides of any issue will lead to anarchy and chaos.
Persons of all political stripes are now banding together to encourage our elected leaders to return to the original intent of the Constitution. Political parties are being fragmented as people are asked to absorb more and more of their politicians' mistakes. High taxation, free spending by government, un-secure borders, the lack of pursuing victory against the terrorists, the murder of un-born babies, giving up our national sovereignty, government take-over of our private industries, and ignoring the will of the people has caused unrest in our country and will only continue to demonstrate the lack of "standards" in our government.
You can read the entire column in the 3/10/10 edition of the Linn County Leader.
Linn County, Mo. —
