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Rule of Law Versus Abuse of Power
The Constitution and its amendments are documents that seek to protect democracy from the threats that abuse power, prioritize one group above another, or disrupt the balance of power between branches of government â including the removal of checks on the executive branch. In recent history, we have seen examples of countries where representative governments have crumbled, such as in Venezuela and in the Philippines, among others, as legal and political checks on leaders were chipped away, one by one. The drafters of the Constitution predicted this weakness of human nature and structured the Constitution to protect against any person or group taking too much power from the people of the United…
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MWEG Response to Jan. 6 Pardons
President Donald Trumpâs indiscriminate pardons of those who participated in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, fly in the face of the rule of law, legitimizing and excusing political violence when wielded against oneâs opponents. Those who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection imposed chaos and terror on a time-honored process of certifying election results, disrupting the peaceful transfer of political power. While the use of pardons by presidents from both parties has been abused over past decades, with a particular escalation more recently by President Biden, President Trumpâs permissive and expansive pardon of more than 1,500 individuals, over 1,000 of whom pleaded guilty, is uniquely disturbing in its disregard…
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Presidential Power to Deploy Military Inside the U.S.
Did you know that for domestic affairs, the U.S. president holds power to deploy the military and National Guard without Congressional approval? Throughout our nationâs history, various presidential administrations have deployed military troops to manage domestic uprisings or large scale natural disasters. In 1807, Congress adopted the Insurrection Act in order to define the governmentâs â primarily the presidentâs â roles and responsibilities in these instances. What is the Insurrection Act? What is known as the Insurrection Act is actually a series of laws that empower the president to deploy military forces for domestic affairs. The laws give the president exclusive power to deploy troops in the event that a…
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What Type of Government Is the United States of America?
The U.S. is recognized all over the world for its distinctive form of representative government. When we understand our governmentâs structure under the Constitution, we are empowered to make more informed choices as we strive to elect worthy representatives, advocate for our policy preferences, and protect what we value. President Dallin Oaks has taught that one of the inspired principles of our Constitution is popular sovereignty. In other words, the people hold the ultimate power, not the government. The Constitution begins, âWe the people of the United States . . . do ordain and establish this Constitutionâ in service of the lofty ideals articulated in the preamble. Below, we offer…
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Civil Service and Project 2025Â
Liz VanDerwerken, proactive root director for Mormon Women for Ethical Government, recently spoke with Erica Newland, counsel at Protect Democracy, about broad reforms to the civil service proposed in Project 2025. Here is a summary of their conversation. What is the civil service? The civil service is the civilian workforce of the federal government. For example, engineers at the Environmental Protection Agency and your local mail carrier in the U.S. Postal Service are civil servants. Civil servants most often keep their jobs when a presidential administration changes, while political appointees are chosen by elected officials and change with administrations. For example, a newly elected U.S. president will appoint a new…
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The Peaceful Transition of Presidential Power
After King Benjamin advised his people concerning their dealings with one another, he urged, âAnd see that these things be done in wisdom and in order,â repeating, âall things must be done in orderâ (Mosiah 4:27). Applying this counsel to our citizenship, we can support the peaceful transition of presidential power by advocating for a process with wisdom and order overarching. After serving two terms as the first president of the newly formed United States, long before term limits were established, George Washington declined running for a third term, in part to keep a promise he made early on to not seek âunfair power.â Thus began the history of the…
