Tag Archives: University of West Virginia

'The System worked'

America’s constitutional arrangements came under a severe attack with the concocted charges that led to President Trump’s impeachment. Professor Emeritus Garrett Ward Sheldon of the University of Virginia shows how well America’s system of government with roots in Western Civilization going back to Aristotle dealt with it. Professor Sheldon explains how deeply James Madison’s Christian/Biblical understanding of man and his weaknesses influenced the writing of the American Constitution.

Even all the powers of a concentrated, entrenched establishment, corrupted political institutions, and monopolized media and education systems could not defeat the Madisonian constitutional system.

As irritating as the last three years of political turmoil have been (especially the bizarre and idiotic impeachment fiasco), Americans can rejoice that the Madisonian constitutional system of “checks and balances” has proven its wisdom once again.

This system of divided and overlapping powers in branches and levels of government (unitary executive, bicameral legislature, and a judicial branch; along with national-state federalism) is the wonder and envy of the world: other countries right now cannot believe how the United States managed this crucial political battle without a bloody revolution or merciless dictatorship, but relatively peaceably and rationally.

This American system of “separation of powers” provides that if one branch of government, representing some major interest or “faction” tries to force its will over all the rest of society, there will be push-back, as “ambition checks ambition” and balance is restored.

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