- Joined
- Dec 24, 2018
Burgerland sperging ahead:
What you're talking about is checks and balances. Each part of the government does different things with regard to the law: simplifying, the Legislative Branch (The House of Representatives and the Senate) creates the law, the Judicial Branch (the Supreme Court) interprets the law, and the Executive Branch (the President) enforces the law. The Judicial Branch is the weakest of the three, as it can neither dictate nor enforce policy, so its members get a lifelong term (and it ensures that a President's legacy lasts beyond his term); what the Supreme Court has is a reputation as being the highest court in the land, and this reputation carries enough weight to keep most people in check. The President can veto bills and, in an emergency can issue Executive Orders, which carry the weight of law, but are not laws. The part We the People have the most control and influence over (theoretically, anyway)- the Legislative Branch- has the power to create and pass laws. These laws can be vetoed by the President, but a 2/3 majority in both houses can overrule him and pass the law anyway. This is balanced out by the fact that the President can refuse to enforce any law or judicial ruling he doesn't like (Andrew Jackson, when the Supreme Court didn't rule his way, famously quipped "They have made their ruling; now let them enforce it.")
Further, it wasn't the fact that King George III had absolute power- the Divine Right of Kings was taken from the British Crown with the Magna Carta centuries before- that caused the colonies to revolt, but the fact that the King and the British government refused to grant the colonies representation in Parliament (nevermind that places in Britain, such as Liverpool, didn't get representation in Parliament- much less colonies in places like India.) The revolt wasn't even a revolt initially- it was a protestation against the heavy taxes levied on the colonies (to pay for defending said colonies in the French and Indian War); if the King listened to their demands, the Founding Fathers would've happily remained as vassals of the British. It only became a revolution when the King refused to listen; "Give me liberty or give me death!" was the first iteration of "Live free or die!"
The second paragraph is related to the first. The government's checks and balances were designed to ensure no one man could ever be king of America, that every state could have representation and a say in the American government, and- and this is important- to ensure the government trips over itself every time it tries to do anything (like go to war or make laws.) This is a deliberate design to ensure that what the government actually does is the will of We the People.
The reason many Burgerlanders get pissy over government agencies (such as the CIA, Department of _______, etc.) exerting authority is precisely because those agencies are unaccountable to the American people. We cannot vote the head of the CIA out, for example. Additionally, such agencies represent massive overreach by the Feds; the Constitution what powers the Federal Government (i.e., the national government of the USA, the one based in Washington D. C.) has, and specifically states that any power not specifically granted to the Feds by the Constitution is reserved for the individual states (this keeps the state governments accountable to their constituents.)
Bob, naturally, only has the barest understanding of any of this. What he believes is that since the obsoletes can vote, then the government can't research the Superior Future tech tree, and since the government can't research the Superior Future tech tree he can't get his fancy schmancy robot body.
