The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #161731 Message #3846525
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
24-Mar-17 - 10:25 PM
Thread Name: BS: President Trump/Russia link (FBI)
Subject: RE: BS: President Trump/Russia link (FBI)
The job of an opposition is not just "to hold the Government to account". That is part of it. But it also has a duty to do what it can to prevent it doing things which it believes are wrong.
Today it appears that at least for the time being the opposition in the American Congress made up of the official Democratic opposition and also of a sufficient number of Republicans were able to frustrate a central policy of the newly elected President. Not criticise it, or "hold it to account", but blow it out of the water. That's an opposition doing what it's there for.
In the sequel to the Brexit referendum we've had the constant chorus that the job of those who see Brexit as a wrong thing to do should accept it as a done deal, and content ourselves with frittering away at the details. The assumption is that if you lose a vote you should accept it as final - an assumption that runs dead against the fundamental principal of democracy, and of any healthy society, which is that when a continuing disagreement arises both parties are free continue to seek to change the views of the other, but only by peaceful methods.