We are supposed be a representative republic. That means that the will of the people, all of the people, should be considered and at least debated, if not acted upon, when any deliberative body discusses a course of official action.

There are 535 legislators representing the will of 330 millionAmericans, 435 in the House of Representatives and 100 Senators. The controlling party has a majority of 9 seats (out of the 435) in the House while the Senate is evenly split 50-50 and claims the majority by virtue of having the tie vote in the person of the Vice President, a member of their party. In effect a majority of one.

Yes, elections do have consequences and the party winning the majority gets to call the shots but common sense dictates that the will of half of the citizens of the country must not be ignored.

The framers of our Constitution acted in the belief that those we elect to our governing bodies and those appointed by them would adhere to the concept of a party in power negotiating with their loyal opposition in order to maintain a balance of ideas and public trust.

Elections have consequences but so does the abandonment of any consideration for the political sentiment of fully half of the electorate.

The current administration is running roughshod over those who should be providing them with the mitigating influence of a loyal opposition and if the latest polls are to be believed, they are also alienating many members of their own party. Not only are they crossing bridges too far, they are burning those bridges behind them.

Conventional wisdom says that when your adversary is destroying himself the best tactic is to leave him to it. In normal times that would be my advice and my final word on the subject but these are not normal times. The damage being done to our country by the feckless overreach of those currently in power will last far into the future without regard to which party takes the reins in future elections and I fear that the possibility of ever again having a respected, cooperative loyal opposition has been eliminated forever.

The reckless disregard for traditional political protocols by this administration and by all those “influencers” outside of government who, following narrow self interests, have joined with those seeking to fundamentally change America, has rewritten the rules.

As an unintended consequence they have created a breach in their own ranks and the time is ripe for clear thinking patriots to step forward and defend this republic.

For those who think that as ordinary citizens they have no course of action, just imagine the effect that 70 million daily phone calls, text messages and emails would have on the 535 legislators. My initial thought was to send a very simple message, “do your job.” But upon further reflection it occurred to me that, judging by the quality of their work output, most of those in the Houses of Congress have no idea what their job description actually is. And so my revised message is, “Do your job, which is to defend the Constitution and insure the safety and well being of the American Citizens”

A constant barrage of this message might get their attention and it might even serve to disempower that “Majority of One” in the Senate. Just saying.