Checks and Balances vs. Abusive Power vs. Freedom

There are two truths that contributed to the creation of our constitution, the laws we strive to live by, and our way of life:
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely;
Checks and balances are necessary to hold power in check.

Throughout history, humans have abused other humans when power is concentrated in the hands of a single authoritarian person or a small group of authoritarian leaders with a moderately larger group of compliant followers. This abusive power can be wielded by a national army of invaders, a greedy plantation owner, a greedy team of senior corporate managers, the greedy owner of a small business, a selfish priest or teacher, a power greedy cult leader or military company commander, a previously abused parent or the Executive branch of our government that is not held in check by the legislature.  

To prevent the high likelihood of abuse from concentrated power, checks and balances, such as laws, regulations or other structures, institutions and mechanisms, are a human necessity. A necessity that may limit our freedoms.

In our system, we the people are the ultimate diversified holders of power.   We grant some of our power to others as needed.   Some powers we grant through our constitutions to those who run our governments so they can provide for our national or state needs.   Some we grant to those who run our industries and businesses to provide for more personal needs.  In both cases, laws are used to constrain the powers we have granted.

As the holders of ultimate diversified power we also hold the final say in controlling abuse.   If our governments abuse the powers we bestowed upon them, we vote our representatives out of office.  If the abuse is serious enough we can force them out early through pressure on our elected representatives to impeach the abuser.

As consumers, if businesses abuse their power we expect and petition our governments to put constraints in place to stop the abuse and protect us.  As stockholders, we can vote against an abusive board of directors and their excessive rewards.   As employees, we can unionize to limit company abuse.  As voters, we expect our governments to enable our ability to unionize and help us limit management’s power over us – not the other way around.  

Since we have granted some of our powers to both government and industry, there is the potential for either of them to distort the power of the other by subverting, removing or not enforcing the checks and balances that we the people created to protect ourselves. For example, we have a Justice Department that puts policy before the law. We also have “K Street” lobbyists supporting corporations over consumers (we the people).   Both are a serious threat to our way of life.   They seriously compromise the checks and balances and abuse the limited powers we have granted them. 

As for the lobbyists, they are already trying in influence our upcoming November election. RollCall.com has a running list of lobbyists endorsements.

As for the Justice Department of the Executive branch, they have expanded the definition of torture, justified the suspension of Habeas Corpus and enabled spying on us. And — they did it all in secret.   The Los Angeles Times has an “ editorial on the secret laws” of the Justice department. It describes what we know and wonders what other secret laws have been created by the Executive branch of our government. 

As individuals subject to abuse of power by other individuals, businesses, institutions and governments, we expect our laws, law makers and law enforcement organizations to keep any power abusers in check. Any concentration of power must be constrained to control possible abuse. This requires, laws, regulations, rules, active voter participation and agencies to put a stop to abuse.   This means freedom for humans has limitations because sometimes we just can’t control the power we have.   

Power enables humans to use their freedom and power to abuse anything they choose: spouses, the elderly, children, employees, enemies, neighbors, animals, rules, regulations, laws, the land, the sea, the atmosphere or anything we come in contact with.

Checks and balances, a critical part of this nations foundation, are a necessity of any free society to curb unbridled abusive power.