Stupid Is as Stupid Does

The New York Times has once again shown itself in a recent column by writer Jennifer Szalai. One cannot read the original column in the NYT without paying for it. This is something I sure will not do given the history of the NYT. Up front, I am depending upon an in depth review of the Szalai column by others.

It seems Szalai believes the US Constitution is a danger to the country and a threat to democracy. Even that kind of thinking shows her stupidity. So, I did a bit of research. I learned Szalai was educated in Canada and Great Britain. This should tell you a lot already. Then I read she is a reviewer of non-fiction books. Maybe she should stick to that.

If she is going to be critical of the US Constitution, maybe she should bone up on some US history. The Founders of our country never intended it to be a “Democracy”. It was structured as a Republic. There are major differences built in. The Founders intended for the Federal Government to be limited in scope and the country never to be governed by a simple majority of the population. This is clearly evidenced by the creation of Congress in two parts: the House of Representatives that reflects population and the Senate that represents equally the states and not population. The Electoral College that selects the President reflects a combination of the number of Representatives and of Senators. It stops rule by the masses and gives significant political power to States equally….. The United States of America. How incredibly wise and cleaver.

This will not change. It is built into the Constitution. Any change would have to come by amendment to the Constitution; a process that is detailed and difficult to accomplish. Any amendment must first be passed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and then approved by three-fourths of the legislative bodies of all 50 states; that’s 38 states. To make the change from the Electoral College to a simple majority vote for the President of the United States will not happen…… ever. The less populated states have the power to stop any such move and would. The Founders purposefully structured government, a Republic, this way.

Szalai also does not like the Supreme Court structure with President Donald Trump having appointed three of the current Justices. Again, she clearly does not understand United States government. Those three were approved by the US Senate as required by the Constitution. Trump did not have the power to appoint Justices by himself. Szalai, along with so-called Progressives, just does not like some of the current rulings by the Court. Too bad. There were rulings in the past that displeased Democrats and others that displeased Republicans. The structure of the Supreme Court with majority approval by US Senate required to be seated and the appointments to be lifetime do much to prevent manipulation of the Court makeup by one political party or another.

So, it appears the Founders of the Constitution knew a little more about what they intended for this country to be than that of Jennifer Szalai. She needs to return to reviewing books.