Letter: Some civics lessons are in order

Some civics lessons are in order

The tactics of addressing the Affordable Health Care Act in the Congress suggest that our elected representatives need a refresher in junior high civics!

Congress passes (or not) legislation by votes among its members. The majority vote carries the day.

If one party then doesn’t like the outcome, then that party can introduce a new bill repealing the one they don’t like.

That again rises or falls on the basis of a vote of the members.

And if “we the people” don’t like the actions taken by our representatives, then we have the opportunity — every two years — to replace them.

Then the new Congress can go through the process again (see above).

What our constitutional process does not call for is to change laws passed by vote of the Congress through separate actions provoked by the losing party — like shutting down the government! If the Republicans don’t like the health care law, they should garner enough votes to overturn it. If they lack a sufficient number of members in the Congress to accomplish that, then they should campaign to elect new members who will support their vote.

That’s how it is supposed to work — not by causing hardship for hundreds of thousands of citizens and adversely impacting our economy and the conduct of public affairs.

Any student in junior high can explain it, although I question whether these current office holders have the capacity to understand it!

James DeFrancia

Aspen