Editor,

Is the southern border situation a national emergency or a tempest in a teapot? I will let you decide.

However, the border controversy is small potatoes compared to the constitutional crisis that is playing out before our very eyes.

What President Trump is doing with his “my way or the highway” approach is violating his presidential oath to “protect and defend the constitution.”

This violation is an impeachable offense in my opinion. What I learned in school is Americans do not want to be ruled by a king or dictator. We want to be ruled by a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Our founding fathers set up the three branches of government to accomplish this goal. In short, the Congress is supposed to make the laws. The executive branch is supposed to enforce the laws. The judiciary branch is supposed to interpret the laws. What President Trump is trying to do is make laws which is not his job; it is the job of the people’s elected representatives in Congress.

Here’s a simple example of how the division of powers should work and how we can get past the shutdown. Currently, the Agriculture Department is shut down because their 2019 appropriation has not been passed into law. To get the department open again, Congress should pass the department’s budget and send it to the president for signature. The president can either sign it or veto it. If the bill is vetoed, then Congress can override the veto.

In any case, the majority, not the minority, rules. This is how our democracy works.

So, what is the rub with this approach. The Senate leaders say they are not going to vote on any shutdown related legislation until a “deal” is worked out with the president. This approach is not right. In fact, it is dangerous. Regardless of who is president and who is running the two houses of Congress, our legislators must be allowed to perform their prime function of making laws. If a Congress member will not do his or her prime job, they must go home. I have to wonder why any congressional member would surrender their law-making responsibility to any president.

So, our duty as citizens is to make sure our elected representatives do their law-passing job. We do this by voting for and protesting to our representatives in Congress. If we sit by idly and let the executive both make and enforce the laws, we are on the road to a dictatorship.

Ken Fredericks

Oak Harbor