THE LAST RIVER MILE

The United States Constitution mandates a balance of power in governmental leadership. The legislative branch makes laws, the executive branch enforces laws, and the judicial branch interprets laws. Each branch holds the other two in check by design.

Some people believe that our current president’s actions strain this delicate but crucial balance, pushing the limits of the executive branch. To be fair, Donald Trump is not the only president to have tested these boundaries. At issue is something called unitary executive theory. (Go to Google, ChatGPT, etc. for a complete explanation.) Simply put, unitary executive theory interprets Article II of the United States Constitution to support singular, largely unchecked power of the standing president over all executive officials and departments. If this ends up extending beyond the executive branch to heavy influence over the legislative and judicial branches, so be it. So, what some people call presidential over-reach others would call constitutionally allowed.

I believe it is important to know all we can know about the original context of anything directive which is preserved in writing. We have to remember that those who formed our Constitution wanted to create national leadership which could not be reduced to one monarch with unchallenged authority, given what they and their ancestors had experienced in Europe. Recognizing that the constitutional balance of power is a dynamic thing, with understandable ebbs and flows, historically this was the original intent,

It’s a matter or record that Donald Trump’s business organization is a family business, operating without a board of directors or any real, independent structure of accountability. He has no experience with being checked by anybody or anything, apart from the presidency. It would be natural if not alarming for him to push toward unchecked executive power. Historically, leaders who want this kind of autonomous power often claim it is necessary to guide a country through some real or manufactured crisis. I know Trump supporters bristle at comparisons to the Third Reich, but sometimes it’s hard not to connect the dots. We’re in a war without congressional approval. Courts are supporting voter-suppression redistricting in many states, at executive direction. At the same time the president has failed to enforce legislative action calling for the complete release of all Department of Justice material related to Jeffrey Epstein. If there’s not cause of concern, there’s at least a reason to raise questions.

The ancient nation of Israel once cried out to have a king like all of the nations around them. Samuel warned them of what kings would do, with unchecked power. (See I Samuel 8.) In these days it might be good for followers of Jesus to revisit that. We’d also do well to remember the political impact of proclaiming that Jesus alone is Lord. (If Jesus is the ultimate and final authority, then no one and nothing else is.) Reviewing our great nation’s birth two and a half centuries ago would help as well.

I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.