A Focus on Ignorance in Nevada
By Frank Salvato

During the recent primary debate between Democrat presidential hopefuls in Nevada, one of the more credible pollsters, Frank Luntz, convened a focus group of undecided Democrats. As the debate progressed each focus group member’s approval or disapproval – their “feelings” – on each of the candidate’s statements was noted. What Mr. Luntz’s focus group actually recorded was proof positive of the Left’s constitutional illiteracy.

In all the years that I have been politically aware, I have never witnessed a group of people so completely ignorant of not only the issues and our nation’s geopolitical situation, but of how our government works. This became über-evident when the total of the group blamed the Executive Branch of our government – and President Bush in particular – for producing “tax-cuts for the rich” and for aiding “big oil” in their pursuit of corporate welfare.

One of the most basic, the most elementary components in federal government is the assignment of powers and responsibilities among its three branches. The Executive Branch is charged with the execution of the day-to-day management of the country. Under the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers, the Executive Branch is neither supposed to make laws nor interpret them. These two roles are reserved for the Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch, respectively.

This being understood, why did each and every one of the undecided Democrats in Frank Luntz’s Nevada focus group blame President Bush for things that only Congress has the authority to enact?

The answer is simple. They are unschooled on the constitutional authorities of our government and the governmental process and they are reacting emotionally rather than in an educated manner. In a nutshell, they are looking at this most important civic responsibility, the business of electing the leader of the free world, emotionally instead of intellectually.

Granted, it is the president who most often signs legislation into law, the veto and pocket-veto options aside. But it is the Legislative Branch – the Congress – that debates, crafts, compromises on, writes and passes the laws of our land, not the Executive Branch.

Why is this important?

It is important because every time you hear someone blaming George W. Bush for giving “tax-cuts to the rich,” they are demonstrating their ignorance, their constitutional illiteracy. The tax laws in the United States are crafted – with the limited influence the presidential bully pulpit provides – by Congress. The extent to which the president is responsible for US tax codes is minimal; it is limited to his lobbying efforts and his signing them into law or vetoing them. Congress is responsible for the creation of tax laws.

It is important because each time you hear someone who leans Green charge that the Bush Administration is delinquent in establishing an energy policy they are demonstrating their lack of constitutional knowledge. Facts are stubborn things and the fact – as presented in reality, not in San Francisco – is that Congress is charged with creating energy legislation. Another fact is that Congress has been responsible for stonewalling any energy legislation in an effort to refuse President Bush a policy victory and to cater to special interest environmental groups.

It is important because as the 2008 election cycle progresses voters must understand – with stunning clarity – that many of the promises made by the presidential candidates are impossible for them to guarantee.

Tax cuts may be called for by the President of the United States – or promised by someone aspiring to achieve that office – but the authority to craft legislation establishing those cuts lies expressly with Congress. This being said, to intimate that President Bush “gave tax-cuts to the rich” is to advance an impossibility and those doing so are either disingenuous or constitutionally illiterate.

An overhaul of the tax codes may be called for by a candidate but a restructuring of our system of taxation requires Congressional action. Politicians in Congress aren’t likely to restructure anything that would deplete the public coffers or limit their access to them, especially those who have an affinity for building bridges to nowhere. These earmarks – pet projects financed with our tax dollars – serve as “bribes” to a politician’s constituents for a return ticket to Washington. It is precisely for this reason that any attempt to restructure our tax codes so as to eliminate waste and treat taxpayers more equitably is unlikely and an issue that has little to do with the Executive Branch.

Promising to attain energy independence is another issue where the POTUS has little influence. Yes, he can craft an energy policy and lobby for it. But it is Congress that is charged with the authority to craft legislation affecting that policy. We could be well on our way to energy independence as we speak if Congress refrained from establishing “no drilling zones” anywhere an environmentalist sees procreating caribou. Again, facts being stubborn things, it is Congress that has bowed to the pressure of special interests in its delinquency to craft energy legislation. This delinquency has little to do with the Executive Branch.

All of us who care about this country must explain – in no uncertain terms – to those among us who are easily distracted by shiny things that the president is not a monarch and the power to create laws rests with the Legislative Branch, not the Executive Branch. Then we should take the time to explain that this means blaming one man for the actions of hundreds is a “bad thing.”

In the end, the ignorance of the emotionally charged voter, the voter who places more worth on his “feelings” rather than the facts, serves to validate a statement made by “Brian,” the cartoon dog from the television series Family Guy. In an episode when he advises his owner, Lois, who was running for mayor, on the need to “dumb down” her campaign rhetoric he opined, “Undecided voters are the biggest idiots in the country.”

It would seem that the undecided Democrats from the Luntz focus group confirm this notion.