Letter: Our system of government has checks, balances

During this last month, I’ve noticed people questioning if the president understood the authority of the Supreme Court. It would seem like the answer would be yes, when even I am learning about it in 8th grade.

We are learning about how the founding fathers developed three branches of government — legislative, executive, and judicial — which provides a separation of power, and a system of checks and balances so that no one branch can abuse its power.

The legislative branch (Congress) makes the laws; the executive branch (president) carries out the laws; and the judicial branch (Supreme Court) interprets the laws.

The Supreme Court’s checks and balances on the other two branches are that it can declare executive or congressional actions unconstitutional.

Regarding the Healthcare Law, the legislative branch did its part by making a law that requires individuals not covered by insurance plans to pay for healthcare coverage or pay a penalty. The expectation would be to provide insurance for 30 million more Americans.

It was a close vote: The Senate voted 60-39 in favor and the House voted 219-212.

The president did his part by signing it into law on March 21, 2010. Now it is time for the Judicial Branch to perform its duty of interpreting if the bill is constitutional.

But just as the founding fathers provided us the three branches, they also provided in the Constitution that citizens can also have a say in our government.

We elect Congress, and the president, while using the freedom of speech to make our voices heard. So soon it will be time for Americans to take action, by voting.

We need to understand the role of each branch of government, as well as understand our power in the “We the People” of this country.

Tags: opinion, letters, government