GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNED

Buoyancy is evident in the aftermath of the November 1992 election: A revival of spirit. Changes in the nation's direction and even a new perception of America's future are expectations. While we wait to see the realities flowing from the election, we should examine what is to be our role—the role of we the people.

A retreat into political and social inactivity would sell us and our nation short. We can not rest on laurels, concluding that energized interest in the campaign and a good turnout at the polls relieve us of further responsibility. The government we have elected and empowered can not do all the thinking, planning, and acting required to overcome the nation's ills and problems. Our active participation in America's democracy may be the difference between success and failure.

Voting is merely one of the important responsibilities of people living under a democratic form of government. The decisions and actions of government between opportunities to vote can be, have been, fateful for the nation. The people must, therefore, carry out another responsibility critical to the survival in healthy form of democracy. We must actively assist the politicians to evolve policies and national programs by monitoring their policies and conveying to them our interests—the interests of the people for themselves and for the nation.

The peoples' responsibilities have not been carried out well in the past. A bare majority of registered voters cast ballots in the November 1992 election. That majority was, in fact, a minority of registered voters plus those who could have registered and voted. As a consequence, a minority of people in the United States continues to ran the country. "Let George do it," is still a pervasive syndrome in American society.

If we the people rely on the politicians and the guy down the street to think and act for us, the malfunctioning of democracy is foregone. Desultory participation is a root cause of a number of the problems we face today, images of which were projected by the rhetoric and overabundant hyperbole of the last presidential campaign.

Without our active participation, the politicians, left on their own, tend to go their own way and do their own thing. If the interests of the people are to be protected, the people must monitor and oversee the politicians with constancy.

We should remind ourselves frequently that the politicians are merely extensions of ourselves. We elect and empower them. They are effective if we are effective. They are corrupt if we are corrupt. They will act for the nation if we act for the nation. In short, they will do as we let them do. George Washington observed in his 1796 "Farewell Address" to the nation:

• "The unity of government which constitutes one people...is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, in the support of your tranquility at home and your peace abroad, of your prosperity, of that very liberty you so highly prize...you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it....watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, (The People Shall Judge Vol. 1, pages 448-9, 1949, The University of Chicago Press.

The reason for having a government in the first place ought to be kept constantly in mind. That understanding lends to an understanding of how our government works and of the need for participation in order to assure that it works well.

A great deal of opinion on the subject has been conveyed over the centuries by religionists, philosophers, scholars, and statesmen! English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704):

• "...it is unreasonable for men to be judges in their own cause...self-love will make men partial to themselves and their friends......ill-nature, passion, and revenge will carry them too far...therefore ....government (is needed) to restrain." ("Second Treatise....of Civil Government, The People. Shall Judge Vol. 1, page 73, 1949, The University of Chicago Press.

Religionist John Wise (1652-1725):

• "the true and leading cause of forming governments and yielding up national liberty and throwing man's equality into a common pile....was to guard against injuries men were liable to interchangeably; for none so good to man as man yet none a greater enemy." (From "An indication of the Government of New England Churches," The People Shall Judge Vol. 1, 1949, page 34, The University of Chicago Press.)

Locke and Wise were among those influential of America's "founding fathers," who, however, concentrated their effort on the form rather than necessity of government. Acutely aware they were "throwing man's equality into a common pile" in order "to guard against injury" and "to re-strain," they sought a form of government beneficial to all of the people of the new United States—a democracy. French scholar Alexis de Tocqueville, not an enthusiast about democracy, wrote, nevertheless, in 1837:

• "...the most powerful, and perhaps the only, means which we still possess of interesting men in the welfare of their country is to make them partakers in the government,...(On Democracy In America, The People Shall Judge Vol. 1, 1949, Page 528, The University of Chicago Press.)

We the people have accepted the need of a government and democracy as its form. But we appear note to have accepted fully that we must be "partakers" to make it work. Voting is only part of participation. Another part is keeping the government (the politicians) informed of our concerns; attitudes, judgments, demands. If a guide is needed for shaping and categorizing our thinking to convey it to the politicians, the principles embodied in the preamble to the Constitution are readily at hand:

• "...in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterity."

In our democracy, how the objectives of the preamble's principles are to be achieved will always invoke nuances of view. But the principles will come more alive for us and for the nation if we remind ourselves to be more caring of each other, more charitable or at least less selfish, more tolerant or at least less bigoted, more willing to compete, with each other within mutually accepted limits of law, justice, and equity, and more considerate, compassionate, and fair-minded.

And the principles chart a course toward resolving the watershed issue for America in 1992, one still unaddressed seriously despite over 200 years as a nation: What kind of democracy do we the people want? Do we want democracy supportive of continuing pursuit of the objectives of the preamble's principles? Or do we want—are we willing to allow—democracy continuing its drift toward government by the few for benefit of the few? The nation must define itself as it progresses into the 21st century, as it girds to confront a world profoundly altered politically, economically, scientifically. Those who, failed to recognize the changes already apparent and others looming were defeated at the polls in the November 1992 election.

The breakdowns of government and the private sector in the United States are underlain by ills existent for some time but ever more apparent in 1992 due to the political campaign and the problems identified by contenders for the presidency and by their supporters. Included are:

• Economic disparities contributory to growing tense relationships between rich and poor, among diverse racial groups, between men and women, between young and old.

• Lack of social values providing a firm and long-term foundation for a rapidly changing society.

• Lack of integrity and of ethical behavior.

• Greed and avarice.

• Lack of an agreed concept for treatment of the disadvantaged and of the elderly in a rapidly aging society.

• Widespread acceptance of disinformation as a substitute for reliable information.

• Gradual weakening of the middle class, which has long been the backbone of our democracy.

Overcoming these ills is a task beyond the capability of government alone. We the people are instrumental to future success. In addition to strengthening virtue in our personal lives, we should increase our participatory role in government by preparing and conveying demands to the politicians. They might include:

• Reestablishment and strengthening of the integrity of the Constitution's system for cooperation between the President and the Congress.

• Revision of Congress' internal procedures to preclude any acceptance or granting or offering of favors in any form between members of Congress and individuals, groups, or organizations exercising their constitutional right to petition Congress for a hearing (commonly called lobbying); to preclude attachment of extraneous provisions to legislation under consideration; to enforce for members of Congress the same standards of behavior required of members of the Executive and Judicial branches of government.

• Reconsideration of the Constitution's provisions for declaring war and for carrying fire-arms.

• Revision of campaign financing laws and regulations to limit the total amount of money to be spent by candidates for public office during a re-election campaign, to limit contributions from private sources, to preclude contribution from PACS, to limit the duration of political campaigns.

• Formation of a consultative relationship between the federal government and state and local governments on national issue of social/cultural importance, especially before federal programs are approved for implementation.

• Issuance, on perhaps a quarterly basis, of reports from federal departments and agencies on their activities of national import, in order that the people may keep themselves better informed.

• Formation of a cooperative relationship between the federal government and the private sector on programs that would contribute to rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and would enable U.S. business to compete more successfully with foreign business subsidized by government.

• Discontinuance by the President and the Congress of the utilization of the very divisive federal tax system to implement national social programs, to subsidize private industry, to grant favors to special interests, etc.

• Focusing of our hard-earned tax dollars on programs beneficial to the people, such as social security, health coverage for all, amelioration of crime and drug problem, strengthening of the nation's infrastructure, amelioration of problem impacting the disadvantaged and the elderly, for which most Americans are ready and willing to pay taxes.

During the 1992 political campaign, we were told by all of the presidential contenders and the media that our votes really did count for something. They were right, even though a still disappointing number of people bothered to vote. We also were told to "take back our country," but we were not told how to do that. Voting politicians in and out of office is one way to do it. But the opportunity comes infrequently—once every two, four, or six years. The other way to do it is to apply constant pressure on the politicians by communicating demands frequently to anyone with a stake in an issue. Snow them with paper, with telephone calls; with voice tapes, with signs, petitions, and protests. Keep them hopping, make them respond, don't give up.

Make our democracy work!

...Robert Sturgill...

© Copyright 1993
Institute for domestic Tranquility