R.I.P.: The Democratic Process
Sunday, April 25th, 2010New Jersey recently passed a law known as Kyleigh’s Law. (Politicians enjoy having poster boys- -or in this case, girls, for their initiatives) This law is named after Kyleigh D’Alessio, a 16-year old who was killed in 2006 in an automobile crash in Washington Township, NJ, involving another teen driver. This new law makes it illegal for any driver under the age of 21, with a provisional license, to drive between the hours of 11:01 PM and 5:00 AM and to have more than one non-household passenger in the car. It also requires these drivers to have an orange sticker on their license plates to mark them as teenage drivers.
This bill is the brainchild of former New Jersey Governor John Corzine. It was pushed through Trenton without the backing of the people of New Jersey. It is quite obviously a very controversial and unpopular bill. Not only does it create an aura of criminality around younger drivers, it also creates unnecessary inconveniences for families with younger drivers. Many of these people will have to risk a $100 fine in order to travel anywhere in New Jersey after 11 PM. Teenage drivers will now be marked, making them clear targets for whoever wants to interfere with someone who is underage and clearly not with an adult.
Many Lehigh students will soon fall into the bracket of people directly affected by this law, significant because of its lack of popular support. Trenton is essentially legislating to the people of New Jersey without their feedback. There are over 8,000 protestors to the bill on Facebook alone, and many of those aren’t teenagers. There exist numerous protest websites that have been receiving a great deal of traffic lately. The largest and most well organized is http://stopkyleighslaw.org, a professional-looking site with a well organized layout that has links to important information including the lawyer in charge of the work to overturn the legislation. There is firepower behind this cause. On the other end, there are currently fewer than 800 signatures on the official petition to uphold Kyleigh’s Law and many of those are actually people who have voiced disparaging remarks about the measure and question its degree of constitutionality.
New Jersey’s Kyleigh’s Law gives Lehigh students an intimate sense of how overburdening legislation can directly impact our lives. However, a much more ubiquitous and powerful example of American governing bodies trying to rule over rather than for is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. right now. The health care legislation recently passed in Washington will be remembered for years as sloppy legislation.
Where in the Constitution does it say that the President should direct legislation? In the last ten years, the office of the Presidency has grown far more powerful than this nation has ever seen. New heights were reached by President Bush with his curious penchant for signing statements. It is commonly known that Bush only vetoed two bills during his tenure. A far less known fact is that he signed hundreds of bills into law with pseudo-legal documents known as signing statements. These are essentially legal statements explaining how the President plans to enact the legislation. This could mean that the President plans not to enact the legislation. Word of this underhanded yet powerful legal technique became known after Bush’s usage of the bill against John McCain’s anti-torture bill. President Obama has also made use of signing statements, although before taking office he had promised not to do so.
Obama has taken a different approach in advancing the authoritarian nature of the Presidency. He took it upon himself to personally direct the health care reform legislation. Perhaps it is old-fashioned or antiquated thinking, but maybe Americans should keep the separated parts of government separate? It is the President’s job to veto or sign a bill, not help it along especially when there is so much opposition to it. It discredits the President’s authority to get knee-deep in the legislative process. If most of Americans are opposed to a bill — which, with the health care bill, they are — then the Congress shouldn’t pass it. The theory behind our representative system is that our delegates and representatives present and fight for our interests in Washington. By following the word of the President rather than the American people, our legislatures are failing to uphold their part of the contract.
The passage of this latest health care reform bill is a bodes poorly for all Americans, not only because of an increasing tendency toward socialist institutions, but also because of the way the bill was forced through. It is no accident that the Attorney Generals of 14 states are currently suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the bill.
It is sad to witness, but it is increasingly apparent, that our governing institutions are straying from a traditional democratic model. Legislatures should fight for what their constituents want. This practice of enforcing unpopular laws will breed resentment and will lead to a system curiously resembling that of a dictatorship.
Sources:
http://stopkyleighslaw.org/
http://www.trautmann.com/gdt.htm
http://news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=245274&position=2&news_type=news&rand=73317905
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/03/19/james-p-pinkerton-deem-pass-democrats-congress/

