The American System of Government  is a very good one.  The design is good.  The intention of the authors of the documents that describe the design and the rationale for it was good.  An assumption by the founders of the American nation was that a system of government for the new nation had to be one that allowed for disagreements which could be addressed and resolved by compromise.  They saw compromise as a good thing, not as a sign of flaw or weakness in the framework of the system.  They even anticipated times when a few ignoramuses might be elected to serve as representative of the people.  The government had to be able to correct itself without dissolving into the chaos of war. Once, over the matter of slavery and states rights, the system failed... mainly because of obdurate postures assumed by pseudo patriots who would rather see the country destroy itself than to continue to seek compromise.  In the course of that war 625,000 Americans died in combat... 599 for every day of the war. That kind of thing won’t happen again in America.

In the Twenty-First Century we are better than that.  The majority of the American voting population declared in the 2012 election that they want a government that works, a government that regulates reasonably and fairly the affairs of its citizens, all its citizens.  The majority of voters declared their confidence in the American system of government.  A small group of citizens actually say they would rather see the country collapse than to compromise their religious or social ideologies. There was some rather insincere and foolish talk about withdrawing altogether from the American union of states, but even those people foolish enough to say out loud that they would rather go it alone than to go with the majority of the people of the United States obviously didn’t really mean what they said.  Some people are so upset by the reelection of President Barack Obama that they talk treason, which I sincerely hope they don’t mean.  A person I know, a man past the age of sixty who was once a student in an English class I taught when he was in high school, likes to refer to the President as “President Bo Jangles.”  He says he wants the President dead. I assume his racism and basic ignorance of the implications of such writing and speaking are shared by a few others; but I believe the percentage of such people in the total population is small.  I believe the great majority of Americans are at least uncomfortable with such disrespect for American government,  even those who would have liked a different result in the November election. 

We speak of our system of government as having branches.  I like that.  Anybody who reads my Blog/journal writing even occasionally knows that I like trees.  In this week that I’ve spend in Washington, all but a few of the trees in the Mid-Atlantic region have lost all their leaves.  They stand with branches exposed. They look dead, but we all know they are getting ready to explode with new leaves in a few months that will affirm their strength and their value.  I expect the same kind of thing to happen to the branches of American government.  If the nay-sayers and obstructionists in government don’t wise-up, they will be removed from office. As the President said in a short address to the nation today, Americans want a government that works. He expects members of congress to do their jobs, to work together. 

Today I walked past this little house in Rockville, Maryland.  I like it.  It's an honest house. It's not pretentious.  It's home to somebody.  I don't know the people who live here, but they deserve the enabling protection that the American government is capable of providing for them.  Let's make it happen.