DailyPost 774
LEGISLATURE’S POWER PLAY
Legislature’s power play is the fulcrum of all modern democracies, the functioning model of the modern capitalist driven world. The recent mid term election in US held on 6th of Nov, represents it all, the results declared last night. The Democrats have gained majority in the Congress marking an end to the end unbridled powers of the President. With the powers of subpoenas & pertaining to different nature of legislations, the next two years of US governance would be different from the first two years of the Trump’s Presidency.
Visible changes apart, Trump fired his Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The numbers game in the legislature is what power play is all about. It has manifestations way beyond what the legislatures are mandated to do, that is primarily to enact and amend laws, in the interest of the nation. It has other fascinating powers to keep a tab on govt. by means of various committees and different interventions of oversight, congressional hearings and the like. Majorities in both houses rarely happens and so the numbers, power play and ever fascinating mosaic of what we have termed as democracy.
The undercurrent of these numbers are reflected in everything, from the voice, conviction and body language of the head of the government to most of the major decisions taken by the Executive. Legislations are fully dictated by the numbers. As laws provide the basic direction to the nations, the very selection of new laws, annulment and amendments are completely dependent of the numbers power play. However much the people of US or elsewhere may want to believe to the contrary, the elected representatives would keep voting on party lines for all times to come.
The legislature’s power play is bound to get reflected in governance; the strength of enforcement of the laws being enacted, the nature of projects being taken and the nature of it’s execution. The long term and short terms goals of a nation are dependent on it. If you have to share your time between Legislature’s power play and your governance role, the first takes precedence, because of its emergent nature, is the reality democracies have to live with.
CAN DEMOCRACIES MATURE BEYOND LEGISLATURE’S POWER PLAY!
Sanjay Sahay