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The framers of our Constitution understood the danger of concentrating power in one person. They established three branches of government - executive, legislative and judicial - with checks and balances to prevent abuses of power.
Yet the Republican-controlled Congress has repeatedly failed to exercise its constitutional authority to check the many excesses of the Trump administration. It has failed to stop the unauthorized war in Iran, unauthorized taxes via tariffs, unauthorized destruction of the East Wing, unauthorized use of the military to police U.S. cities, and the unprecedented, multi-billion-dollar corruption by the president and his family.
These are not abstract constitutional disputes. Failure to check abuses involving war, tariffs, and corruption directly affects our standard of living, freedoms, and national security.
Nevertheless, many of our representatives in Congress have remained silent, putting their self-interest and fealty to the president over their responsibilities to you and me.
Longtime Rep. Glenn Thompson, who represents Union County and the rest of Pennsylvania's sprawling 15th District, hasn't found the courage to offer even the slightest criticism of the Trump administration's abuses. Fortunately, voters have an excellent alternative in Ray Bilger, a plain-spoken moderate with experience in the U.S. Air Force, National Security Agency and State Department.
Incumbent Rep. Dan Meuser, whose 9th District includes communities east of the Susquehanna River, is a close ally of President Trump who has refused to challenge even the most extreme abuses of presidential power. Voters have a better option in his opponent, Pottsville native Rachel Wallace, former chief of staff at Office of Management and Budget.
When our elected representatives fail in their fundamental duty to check the abuses of an authoritarian president, they betray the trust of the American people. Now it is our chance to assert our right to vote - and to remove the enablers from office.
DR. JOAN MOREAU
Lewisburg
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom