The Government Should Be Separated into Three Branches Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
Isaiah 33:22 “For the Lord is our judge (judicial), the Lord is our lawgiver (legislative), the Lord is our king (executive); it is He who will save us.”
It is interesting that in ancient times political writers often debated on what is the best form of government. Some thought of the monarchy with a single powerful leader; some gravitated towards aristocracy where the best families of the nation would rule. Some preferred democracy where all the population would make the decisions. However, all of these were deficient in being able to provide the security and the justice which was needed.
Polybius was a Greek who lived 204 to 122 B.C. He felt that there was something good in all three types of government described above. For example, the monarchy had the executive strength needed to direct the government, the aristocracy represented the interest of wealth and the developing of resources for the nation, and the democracy represented the masses of the population. However, monarchy could easily become a tyranny, aristocracy could sink into an oppressive government by a few rich families, and democracy could turn into mob rule. Polybius saw the possibility of combining all three ingredients for an established government. It was called a mixed Constitution, but the idea died with Polybius.
In the 18th century Baron Charles de Montesquieu resurrected the idea of Polybius and documented the thought of the possibility of a government based on separation of powers. This illuminated the mind of our Founding Fathers of the possibility of a government based on separated but coordinated powers.
A government based upon the separation of power did not come overnight. It was John Adams, who practically stood alone, advocating a government based on the separation of powers and eventually he was able to establish this into the State Constitution of Massachusetts. Later Adams was successful in getting his ideas incorporated into the U.S. Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin acknowledged “that the Constitution of the United States with the separation of powers was as perfect as man could be expected to produce and he urged all the members of the convention to sign it so that it would have unanimous support.”
We should always keep in mind that we live in a fallen world. When we think of the Constitution with its separation of powers we do find a balance that brings in protection, security and justice that is needed in a government within this fallen world and we see that this Constitution has stood the test of time. When taking office every Senator, Congressman, Judge and President pledges to uphold the Constitution. However, we find today among some of the progressive political leaders that they look upon the Constitution as a “living document.” What this means is that it needs to change according to the culture changing. In other words, it was okay for the agricultural culture of our Founding Fathers, but for this information age there needs to be the adjustments to the times that we live in.
What they forget is that human nature never changes except through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and unless that takes place in men man will always be moving away from and not towards God. With its separation of powers, the Constitution brings this into focus with its checks and balances, but today, although our Constitution is often treated with reverence, is not seen any longer for much practical use. Therefore, we are losing the reasonable balance of power among the three constitutional branches and have seen power dramatically shifted away from Congress primarily to the executive but also to the judiciary.
Whether Congress can regain its legislative authority is something that will be seen in the next 2016 election and in the years to come.