Government Of The People – Part 2
Editorial Note (1/14/2021): I changed “citizen-politicians” to “citizen-legislators” to better reflect what we would do.
A Government by the People. . . .
We tend not to understand the significance of the American experiment. Eighteenth century Europe was governed by inheritance. That is, the positions of the ruling classes were happenstances of birth, and not of selection by the ruled. Since the hoi poloi had little, or no, leverage on the ruling class, governance was unchecked. Whim, reaction, or revenge could initiate laws that affected only the hoi poloi.
The American experiment overturned that paradigm by ensuring those being governed chose those who governed them through election. And, in the case of national governance, the founders established three safeguards to ensure no collective could unduly influence the selection, in toto, of the national governing body.
One safeguard is a governing body that directly represents the people–the House of Representatives. Originally, the second safeguard was a governing body that represented states, that is being appointed by state legislatures–the Senate. The third safeguard was an electoral process for the national President that prevented states with high population densities from disenfranchising those with low population densities. Thus, every state had to be electorally won, individually–the electoral college.
A Government of the People. . . .
A government of the people implies citizen-legislators rather than a professional political class. To our detriment, we encourage the rise of a professional political class because we (I) considered politics an undesirable, perhaps even a dirty and underhanded, endeavor.
Moving Back to America means we have to re-assume the single job the founders intended for us–become the citizen-legislators they assumed we would be. The role of a citizen-legislator is inherently temporary. It is a part-time job necessary to the health of government.
A government of the people means we (I) must engage in local politics by running for the seemingly insignificant roles: school boards, local boards of commissioners, and so on. Every locally elected position is an avenue to Moving us Back to America.
We must return to a government of the people, that is a government composed of citizen-legislators.
Where to Start
One way to start is by engaging in a local political organization. Commit the one day a month to Moving Back to America. Moving back is going to take a long time, and at times may be against a head-wind. It is, however, a necessary move for the future of our children and grandchildren.