The Overthinker's Journal

I wrote my congressman, Representative Buddy Carter (GA-01), about my concerns which were expressed in my last blog post, as seeing the President unsure if he has to follow the Constitution is worrisome to me.

While I was at it, I explained my history as a former federal employee who recently moved to his district after leaving my job due to the actions of this administration.

This is the response I got back from him, or more likely, one of his staffers:

I was at first bothered by the fact this response was a list of generic platitudes and didn’t even remotely address what I wrote to him, showing he truly doesn’t “appreciate hearing my thoughts.”

But then something else caught my eye. “…serve the American people in separate but equal branches of government.”

“Separate but equal” is not only a sloppy way to describe the branches, it’s also a historically loaded term.

For decades, “separate but equal” was the basis for legal discrimination in this country, as a result of the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. This policy, and the term itself, was discredited with Brown v. Board of Education.

Furthermore, it is constitutionally inaccurate. The branches are described as coequal, with distinct roles, but never “separate but equal.”

I would encourage his office to be more mindful in their choice in language, particularly when responding to constituents raising serious constitutional concerns.