Checks and balances vital

COEUR d'ALENE - The responsibilities sound simple, but they require discipline.

It takes work for citizens to stay informed, work for newspapers to hold government officials' feet to the fire and work from the government itself explaining its actions.

Without the three parties holding up each of its ends, the whole system fails.

Sticking to ideology, preferring name calling over rational debate, even watching one television station instead of reading multiple newspapers erodes the foundation of government accountability.

Instead, author, professor and U.S. Constitutional scholar David Gray Adler told a crowd of 100 people Friday night, stay informed, engage in rational debate, listen and ask questions.

"Stop political labeling," Adler said during his speech, Holding Government Accountable. "That's the lazy citizen's way of behaving. It's so easy to adopt a political position if we cling to an ideology."

Rigid ideological divides have become worse in Congress, he said. Gone are the days where senators from different political parties could dine together after arguing on the floor.

To get back there, people should stay informed, engage in debate and listen. Some issues people can agree, some they can't, but in the end compromise is the cornerstone of the Republic, he said.

"After (the representatives) carry out the length of their term, we vote whether to send them back," he said.

And when citizens stay informed, it means representatives won't be allowed to get by on sound bites. It means they'll have to answer questions on where and why they stand on every issue, instead of just labeling or slandering opposing viewpoints.

"Words ought not to be bullets ... We live in a community together," said Adler, an international lecturer and author of numerous books and articles on the Constitution and the American presidency. "Do you really gain anything in a political debate if you achieve victory by deceit?"

The answer is no, because the goal of political discourse isn't winning or losing, but striving toward an efficient, reliable, accountable government.

The media's role is to deliver unbiased, accurate information, so the government can explain its actions and readers can form their opinions. The Founding Fathers were adamant supporters of a free press because they realized its importance in self-governing, which Adler called "a great experiment" even to this day. Perfect the American media hasn't been, but it has a pretty good track record, he said, even as far back as reporting battles during the American Revolution.

The government itself, of course, is obligated to operate under the direction of the Constitution.

While the hour-long lecture at the Coeur d'Alene library focused on the three entities, it's the citizenry who play the biggest role ensuring all the three engines operate uniformly. Questioning government isn't treasonous, he added, rather a show of patriotism.

"A renewed appreciation of the responsibility of citizens to engage in governance," said Ron Cole, on what he took away from the speech, as he was leaving. "It is" a lot of work.

Bill Green too said he was struck by the important role citizens play. Instead of arguing a point, people should slow down and hear what the other person is saying.

"Listening," he said of one of Adler's themes that stuck out. "And trying to understand another point well.

"I think it's much more difficult when you're entrenched," he said.