Class this week is about the three branches of government, checks and balances, and the wildly optimistic assumption that everyone involved would respect the rules. We walk through how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches are supposed to check each other, why those checks exist, and why they were intentionally designed to slow things down. Delay wasn’t a mistake — it was the defense against bad laws, bad ideas, and bad people moving too fast.

We dig into the uncomfortable truth that the system only works because the branches are supposed to dislike each other. The president was never meant to be a king, Congress was never meant to rubber-stamp power, and the courts were built to get in the way. The Founders assumed ambition would clash with ambition and that mutual suspicion would keep anyone from grabbing too much power. It’s not elegant. It’s not efficient. It’s supposed to be irritating.

And then we talk about the part that isn’t written down. Checks and balances only work if the people using them actually give a damn about the rule of law. When laws become suggestions, norms become jokes, and accountability becomes optional, the entire system turns into set dressing. The Constitution can’t enforce itself — and right now, that’s the problem.

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