Balance

Balance is something that we strive for in this life. We always hear about how important balance is. For instance the balance between work and family. The balance between the secular and the spiritual. The balance between spouse, children and personal time. Balancing one's checkbook and other finances. Yes balance is a part of our life that we strive for. But it also works on a larger scale.

At work balance is desirable in order to get the job done, on time, on budget and maintaining customer satisfaction. In the extended family balance is needed to ensure that relationships don't deteriorate or are severed completely. In the community balance brings us closer together and allows us to solve the issues we all face.

In our government it was setup to have checks and balances. We have the three branches, Executive, Legislative and Judicial who are supposed to keep each other in check. However, I believe that the second part, balances, is something that we don't pay enough attention to.

Our republic was setup so that we could keep ourselves close to the middle of the political spectrum. Our founding fathers saw that on one end there was Tyranny and that at the other end was Anarchy. Knowing that these two forms of government could never succeed for long, the founding fathers took a new approach and that's where balance comes in.

Think of the political spectrum as a teeter totter. There is a fulcrum in the middle that when things are in balance both sides are level. If one side is heavier than the other then the heavier side falls to the ground and the lighter side rises to the sky. This in turn causes an out of balance condition and can lead to instability.

Just like that teeter totter, our republic relies on balance to keep things going. Having one side of the political spectrum dominate causes things to go out of balance and leads us closer to either Tyranny or Anarchy. This was the fear of the founding fathers. Their hope was that by setting up the branches of government as they did things would remain in balance.

Today is President's day. In honor of today we should all take a moment and think about the way our Republic is setup. That we should encourage those who have been entrusted to lead this country that the best way to succeed is to have balance. We should encourage those on both sides to take a good look at themselves and realize that they don't have all the answers. Maybe then we can find the balance that will lead our country to continued success and greatness.