A scene of a field inspection on the bench of the Supreme Court during the parliamentary audit on October 15. Representative Ju Jin-woo's office.
 

Members of the National Assembly standing on the bench.

The public asks before that scene.

“Is this oversight, or is it dominance?”

On October 16, some lawmakers were captured moving towards the podium and protesting during the parliamentary audit of the Supreme Court. The Grand Assembly Hall is a symbol of judicial independence. If the legislative branch's oversight function climbs above the judiciary's authority, it is not a check and balance, but a show of power.

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee is originally a technical body that examines the system and wording of bills.

However, today's Legislation and Judiciary Committee is practically reigning as the 'upper house of legislation.' Bills are stopped at the doorstep of the committee, and the chairman monopolizes the agenda. Authority, which was a procedure for quality verification, has now become a tool of politics.

When the authority entrusted by the people becomes a weapon of a political faction, that is abuse of power.

The Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the Lee Jae-myung administration's National Assembly is a symbol of that abuse. Technical authority such as system and wording review is used as a shield for political factions, and the function of checks and balances has turned into a means of control. The committee is no longer an organization that refines the quality of laws, but a battlefield of power that determines the success or failure of politics.

The 'democracy' that the Lee Jae-myung administration speaks of is now being realized not through checks and balances, but through the dominance of procedures and the rule of language.

Timothy Snyder said in 'On Tyranny': "Tyranny begins not when institutions collapse, but when institutions are taken for granted."

As he warned, tyranny does not come with guns and swords. It comes with practices cloaked in legality. When the authority of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is repeatedly abused, it is already the everyday life of the institution and the threshold of tyranny.

The grammar of the left justifies this process. That grammar begins with morality and ends with power. It excludes the opponent's logic by judging it with moral standards, rather than refuting it. The moment political language swallows procedural language, democracy has already lost its neutrality.

The origin of that grammar was 5·18. The memory of state violence gained legitimacy through the language of morality, and that morality became the language of all politics thereafter. The yellow ribbon of Sewol was a symbol that expanded that grammar into public sentiment. The symbol of remembrance should remain as a language of mourning, but the moment it becomes a license for morality and a badge of political power, the symbol becomes power, not ethics.

Now, that language has entered the procedures of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. Power is wielded in the name of procedure, and abuse is hidden in the form of legality.

When the grammar of morality gives birth to authority,

When the grammar of emotion moves the masses,

And when the grammar of procedure completes power,

That is the narrative of tyranny.

Jefferson said: "Tyranny is not the exclusive possession of one person, but begins when the majority remains silent." The people must now refuse that silence.

The moment authority transforms into power, democracy stops.

The badge of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is not a decoration of the institution, but a warning light indicating the boundary of power.

#LegislationAndJudiciaryCommittee #LeeJaeMyungAdministration #AbuseOfPower #TimothySnyder #GrammarOfMorality #GrammarOfEmotion #GrammarOfProcedure #NationalAssemblyReform #LegislativeMonopoly #Democracy