LETTERS: CONSTITUTION IS STRONGER THAN CRISIS

To the editor:

During a recent trip to Philadelphia, my wife took advantage of a few hours of free time to visit the sites that commemorate our nation's birth. Afterward, she called me, and we talked for a long time about what it all meant, particularly in the context of the current troubles with the president. I thanked her, because the message she conveyed was that through all the murk and lies, the pole star was still visible if you looked hard. The risk and sacrifice of those who led us to a new, untried form of self-governance, without the benefit of overnight polling, undeterred by real threat of death and loss of property, were going to be vindicated again. The Constitution will prevail.

Over the course of our history since ratification of the Constitution, the argument about the role of the people we elect to the offices of president, representative and senator has come to the forefront time and again. Are they trustees or emissaries? I think it's a deliberate ambiguity that contributes to the living vitality of our Constitution. No answer is definitive for all circumstances. I personally expect that the people for whom I vote to represent me in the House and Senate should carry my values to the debates, but act autonomously based on insight that can only be gained by immersion in those debates. Sometimes some steering input seems to be needed, so I write or call. It's a pretty good system.

The president's role is an altogether different matter. I look at the president almost entirely as a trustee. I vote for candidates who seem to share my values, but one a candidate is elected, I don't actually expect to have any appreciable impact on what he or she does. They will be bound by the most grave set of obligations carried by an executive anywhere on this planet. The president has power to an extent possessed by no other entity or individual in this government. The president commands the resources of the wealthiest nation on Earth and has great latitude to exercise those resources. The president has the power to commit men and women to the task of killing other men and women and putting their owns lives in harm's way. Clearly, this is a trustee who must be trustworthy. Character does matter.

This is a tough time for all of us. The responsibility to act rests now with the people's representatives. If we have made the right choices in selecting those individuals, they will lead us to the right choice in this difficult process. In the meantime, the government and the nation will continue because we are well-structured and flexible. The Constitution will prevail.

BOB RATHBURN

Piedmont