OPINION: Checks on Governmental Power - Why it is so Important

With the way society is working today, I don't think many people truly understand that the government isn't the ones who make the decisions. Yes, the government signs bills and regulations into law and review it all, but these regulations and bills have to come from somewhere. We the people, are the ones actually bringing up these problems and things that we feel need to change. But when a government official does go out of their way to bend the rules and abuse their positions and power, that is also where we come in as well as other branches of government to protect our freedom. 

When creating the constitution and building up our government system, our founding fathers had created a system called checks-and-balances. This was a way for the three branches of government to check up on each other to make sure that no one was abusing their power and doing things that were illegal and going against the people's wishes. We also have a responsibility in this system where we get to decide whether or not we want to remove these officials or keep them, and if we do remove them, who will fill that position. 

I believe that this is one of the most important values of the First Amendment, which allows the press to report on such violations to the people to keep us all informed. When we elect someone into office, we believe that they may make decisions that would be best for us. But we can't always know whether they will actually fulfill their promises or not, we have to trust that they will - and sometimes they don't. Sometimes these elected officials go off on their own and make decisions the wouldn't be in the best interest of the public and effectively create a "gate" situation (like watergate). When we get the right to report on what these officials do wrong, it allows us to keep the government in check. 

But like I said earlier, I don't believe many people know that we can make these kinds of decisions as citizens. Because with how our government is currently running - especially during this pandemic - I would think we would have new leaders in office making better decisions for this country. 

source:
https://www.parlament.gv.at/ENGL/PERK/PARL/POL/ParluGewaltenteilung/index.shtml