I know, I know…you might have learned all about this in high school. Well, it’s all new to me, so a little refresher course won’t hurt you. After all, you might have been daydreaming about your school’s quarterback or that red-haired girl at the table next to you in the cafeteria when this lesson first aired. I’ll keep it simple, but please pay attention this time.

The U.S. Congress convenes in the U.S.Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The same building that was wrongfully and shamelessly ransacked by angry supporters of our current president in 2021. Its role in our government is significant as the Legislative Branch. They’re basically the cooks in a kitchen creating bills that might become laws, setting spending and making budgets, even declaring war if necessary. And, that’s just for starters. They can make our lives better or a whole lot worse real fast, so it’s important that these people are not only smart, but decent and honest human beings.

Remember math class and thinking ‘I’ll never need this stuff’. Well, you were probably right. But this next part is really simple math… grade school stuff. There are two parts or ‘chambers’ of Congress, One is the Senate, and the other is the House of Representatives. There are 100 senators in the Senate ( 2 per state; 50 x 2= 100) Simple right? The House has 435 members called ‘ representatives’. Why so frigging many? It’s totally based on the population of each state. Some states are just more stuffed than others. Take crowded Florida, it has 28 representatives while distant North Dakota has merely 1.

The political leaning of states differs, too. Some are primarily ‘red’ or conservative (Republican), while others lean ‘ blue’ or liberal (Democratic). Some states are also called ‘ purple’ (remember art class?). That’s when the state’s political ideology is very close to even across its electorate. Now, any of these representatives can vote anyway they want at any time. But, they usually vote along party lines therefore, the majority typically gets their way. Right now, the Republicans have the majority in the House and in the Senate, too, and that’s what has to change if we want to save ourselves. We need as many elected Democrats as possible in order to gain and hold control of the House. If we could do that in the Senate also, it’d be better than raining puppies on your birthday. It’s a do or die moment for us and we must succeed in order to return law and order to our justice system, save our schools and health care, and rebuild the respect for our country that the current president has completely destroyed.

So,with the White House and the entire Congress in control of the Republicans, things are pretty bleak. To make things even worse, the Judiciary is no longer independent.The Supreme Court is packed with conservative and acquiescing judges. It acts as the private law firm on behalf of the president instead of for the American people. They, along with the attorney general, cowardly ‘rubber stamp’ whatever he wants.. Still, there is power within all of the states which are ‘sovereign’ or independent..We can unlock the door for change in Congress with our votes. Congress can save us, but ‘we the people’ alone hold the keys.