Letters to the Editor

Letter: Legislature should do its job

Alaska’s Legislature, as well as the U.S. Congress, needs to wake up and do its job. Both governments are designed with a careful division of powers between three main branches. Over the past 50 years or so, we have witnessed a slow but steady retreat by the legislative branches.

Roughly beginning with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in the 1960s, Congress ceded its power to declare war to the executive branch. Virtually every president since has waged war without a formal declaration by Congress.

Presidents have unilaterally used National Emergency Declarations to change immigration policies and laws passed by Congress. They have changed policies and procedures regarding climate regulation and health care. President Donald Trump even used such a declaration to spend huge sums of money on a dubious “emergency.” The legislative branch has approved such power grabs through its inaction.

The question arises: Is the legislative branch supporting what is best for the country, or merely supporting the current executive and political party?

Alaska has a governor who is anti-tax, anti-government and anti-education. This in the largest state in the union, with the least level of infrastructure, and with one of the highest costs of living. The governor has proposed a budget which would close schools, close much of the state’s university system, and debilitate much of the state’s normal operation. The Legislature will reveal where its loyalties lie, either to the executive and party, or to the people of Alaska, by what it does with the governor’s proposal. They need to take care to preserve the balance of power on which our system is based. They should remember the adage, “The executive proposes, the Legislature disposes.”

— Tom Nelson

Anchorage

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