The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-11-17

1sesSS9 sup SAhS ~Oftf N ANtHO Juu6SSf
appointed for life by the president Of
the United States. have the power to
declare illegal any law that may be
able to get over the barriers existing
in the two other divisions. When,
Cor reasons of political expediency
in response to. popular clamor
both houses pass law and the presi-
dent signs it, the supreme court can
with simpunity declare it unconstitu-
tional, From its decision there is abb
solutely no appeal.
This brief outline only gives some
suggestion of how the system of
checks and balances works, not to
furnish political expression to the in
habitants of the country, but actually
in order to preventp elected represen-
tatives passing laws, that might serve
he majority of the inhabitants of the
country. r
Constitution Changes.
When efforts are made to change
the constitution we again meet with
the most fragrant trayesty upon de-
mocracy. Changes MAY be initiated
II two-thiads vote OF both houses,
but before they become effective they
must be ratified by two-thirds vote
Of three-fourths of the states of the
union That means that the 13 small
lest states with population of $685.
742, could defeat dat constitutional
amendment that might be endorsed
by the other 35 states representing
more than 100,0OO,000 When we d.
vide that by the fraction over one
third which would result in defeating
the amendment in the given states
e find that action preventing ratp-
cation can be achieved by legislators
representing less than 100000 popu-
lation. So, in the final analysis we
have the spectacle of representatives
a population similar to the city of
Chicago or less than one-fiftieth Of the
population, defeating the will of the
representatives of all the rest of the
110,000,000 population of this country.
Perhaps the socialist apologists of
democracy and constitutional methods
of achieving the liberation of the
working class will explain to us how
long they expect to- wait to achieve
anything worth while by constitu-
tional means. The whole thing be-
comes still more absurd when one
considers the fact that the so-called
elected representatives, are, almost
totally, selected by ssets of spoils
politicians and that the mass of peo-
pie who vote for them have absolutely
no choice in their nomination.
To start with, our democratic pre-
rogative is exercised only in voting
for candidates chosen by the political
machines of the master class Then,
if they are forced, in order to main
tain democratic illusions among their
constituency to vote in the legisla-
tive halls for a bill obnoxious to the
capitalist class, the system of checks
and balances comes into full play to
destroy the bIl Is
Why itloriginated.
The origin of the United States con-
stitution is not to be sought for in
the realms of miracles. 1t did not
descend from on high nor were the
men who drafted it impelled by any
benevolent motives. The thing was
concocted for the immediate purpose
of endeavoring to overcome the end
less tariff and other antagonisms
existing between the thirteen original
states. The economic situation was
such, with the interests of the slave
owners of Virginia, Georgia and the
Carolinas clashing with the manufac-
turers of the northern states, that no
dominant economic class yet existed,
SO the constitutional convention, held
in secrecy, was at best a compromise
between the various groups.
The draft was adopted by the con-
stitutional convention on September
IL, 1887, but it encountered the most
determined opposition from every