Our democratic republic has existed as a collection of united states only since 1776, a unique experiment in limited central government balanced by states’ and citizens’ rights. In our central government, power is shared by three branches — executive, judicial, and legislative. They exert the “checks and balances” described in our Constitution. Our founders aimed to prevent one branch or one individual from becoming all-powerful. They knew that Europe’s violent history was pockmarked with kings and other despots and that ordinary people had little or no power.
Today, members of the administration, the judiciary, and those elected to Congress face an existential question. Those appointed or elected carry the heavy responsibility of looking after the welfare of millions of citizens and others, but where does their duty lie? Should loyalty to the leadership take precedence over truth? In history, it often has. That is how a leader or ruling class amasses power.
Citizens familiar with the Bible’s “and the truth will set you free” know that to abandon truth in favor of loyalty to a mere human being is to put at risk one’s basic rights and the very existence of our democratic experiment. Choose truth.
