Recently, I was trying to remember when I had my first American history lesson. It was probably in the fourth grade, when my teacher spent about forty-five minutes describing the three equal branches of government.

It was simple, but it wasn’t dramatic or memorable. It wasn’t until many years later when I recalled again hearing the phrase “three equal branches of government.”

It was at that point in time when I questioned exactly what that expression meant. By any stretch of the imagination, the three branches of government aren’t respected as equal and if anything, they are all currently at war with each other.

Not a day goes by when there isn’t some skirmish going on between one or more of those so-called august bodies.

During the past few years, one part of the legislative branch, namely the U.S. Senate, has been conducting a continuous war over judicial misconduct.

Media investigations have unearthed questionable gifts to Justices Gorsuch and Thomas. Each has freely accepted lavish trips or other benefits, all of which have gone unreported. Recently, Justice Thomas chose to report a few trips but failed to list others.

Beyond judicial ethics, the Supreme Court has brought controversy to its front door by its outright partisanship and twisting years and years of established precedent into right-wing philosophy.

I still vividly remember the confirmation hearings of Justices Kavanaugh, Barrett, Alito, and Gorsuch. Each one was asked if they would honor judicial precedent and specific cases were mentioned. Each one, under oath, lied to the Senate Judiciary members to ensure their confirmation.

Once those four justices assumed the bench, in case after case, they ignored any precedent, because they were committed to their own ultra-conservative beliefs.

What is even scarier is the recent habit of majority justices in raising issues about totally unrelated cases as a way of saying they would welcome new challenges consistent with their right-wing beliefs.

Putting the Supreme Court aside, our legislative branch has failed to cover itself with glory. Other than some hard-fought bipartisan legislation emanating from the Senate, there has been almost nothing coming from the House.

What has come from the House is story after story of majority members attacking each other and members on the other side of the aisle.

Usually, the best-known member of the House is the Speaker, but in that body, it is Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a bombastic member.

What has contributed to the House chaos, is the rules change that allow any one member to file a motion ousting the Speaker. It was invoked to kick out Speaker Kevin McCarthy and will no doubt be invoked if the Republicans can keep control of the House.

The possibility of an overnight revolution by any one majority member has made the House into a do-nothing body, which spends most of its time passing legislation naming post offices in far-off places.

Once upon a time, presidents were given some degree of respect by members of the opposition party.

That was especially true in the case of foreign affairs, where presidents were given wide latitude on a variety of matters. These days, the Republican opposition is poised to jump on the Democratic president on almost any matter, foreign affairs included.

What undermines the belief that there are three co-equal branches is the level of personal attacks on President Biden that we have never seen before.

Not a day goes by that there isn’t some media story highlighting some underhanded effort attacking the president’s sanity or physical stamina. These assaults are usually common in an election year, but this time the attacks have been consistent over

It is technically correct that there are three separate branches of government, but that is where the comparisons end.

The Supreme Court has become a cauldron of partisan bickering. The House and Senate are a periodic embarrassment and the president gets no respect from his adversaries.

When I first became immersed in history, they never warned us what the history of the branches would morph into.

Maybe things will change as time goes by, but I strongly doubt it.