Checks and Balances and the Role of Congress

The time for flailing our arms above our heads as we scream and complain about the state of our national government is over. Let's seek a solution. The Republicans in Congress need to step up and do what Congress is chartered to do: provide checks and balance to the Executive Branch.

As of now, the Republican member closest to fulfilling his duly sworn duty as a Senator is Bob Corker. "Three members of the Cabinet are all that stand between us and chaos." is quite a statement for someone who is not regularly scheduled on TV after 11PM. Yet this influential, highly respected man has seen fit to publicly declare his misgivings on how our country isn't being led right now. Why? Cynically I believe its because he isn't running for reelection so he doesn't fear that portion of Trumps 35% that reside in his state.

But what about those members of Congress who have more to lose?

Could there be a sound reason for them to join Sen. Corker's chorus?

One might be that it is their job. Each member swore to uphold the Constitution. The foundation of that document is to divide the power of government between three distinct branches who can check and balance each other. Their job is not to get re-elected but to earn re-election by making sure the actions of the President do not damage the nation.

A second is that they were all Americans long before they were Republicans. Our country is in dire need of the members growing some spine and actually standing up and providing leadership to get this country what it needs. Not what the loudest extremist factions scream about. In my life, I have found that the more extreme and loud a position, the less thought was involved in deriving that position.

But I have a third reason. And this one is truly horrifying. Sen Corker also believes, and has said publicly, that President Trump has put the United States of America "on a path to World War III. And he doesn't know he's doing it."

Let me try to put this in a little perspective.
> During WWI 1.7% of the world's population died.
> During WWII that went up to 3.0%.

If we extrapolate that growth to WWIII then we are looking at 5.3% of the 7.3 billion people dying. That equals about 370,000,000 people. That's more than the entire population of the United States. The 5.3% of the U.S. share equals over 16 million Americans. That represents the entire population of Kentucky, Mr. McConnell, plus the entire population of Wisconsin, Mr. Reed. Oh, and we can throw the entire population of Maryland in too, Mr. Blunt.

That sounds quite a bit more important than re-election.