|
If government isn't taken in hand by the populace and shaped into the instrument we want it to be it takes a life of its own and shapes the populace instead. This is especially true of American politics where it's all about conflict and control. By definition, politicians must be directed, like unruly children, to do the right thing. This isn't always a dignified process, indeed it's made difficult precisely because elected officials don't like to be told what to do, despite the nature of the profession centering around implementing the will of others and listening to a constituency.
Ironically, while nearly everyone in politics seems to understand this, few outside have grasped the full implications.
Government must be tamed. People like Bush are made to be broken and digested by the body politic. He should have been nothing more than a democratic candy bar - a quick snack for better candidates on the road to the presidency. A latter day Dan Quayle. Instead, we have an imperial presidency born from a political dynasty that should have been removed from the levers of power decades ago. In a real sense, we have the government we deserve.. or perhaps more precisely, the party we deserve. One cannot sit and hope that elected officials will do what you want. They must be compelled to do as the electorate wishes. That compulsion can take many forms, from national strikes and mass protests to blockades and strategic capital expenditures but in each case the actions require those involved to be willing to accept the sacrifices and consequences that will accompany such forceful measures. The resolution to all of this isn't going to be amicable.
No one escapes the septic DC environment intact. It's the job of the people, and formerly the media, to keep that infectious influence from becoming terminal illness. If we were a country of laws instead of men, then the institutions created to safeguard our nation from these abuses would be more powerful than those who would wish to corrupt it. Sadly, this is not the case. We are decidedly a government of men, as the Bush presidency proves beyond any shadow of a doubt. In light of this, the duty falls upon us to to effect the changes we wish to see by whatever methods are appropriate and effective, even when others may find them distasteful.
It’s said most great American literature revolves around what it means to be an America in one way or another. This preoccupation seems curious at first, but in actuality it illuminates a central paradox of our national character. The U.S. is not designed around rigid precepts that break when pressured or collapse when tainted by corrupting influence. The structure of our government is designed to enable both depots and egalitarians almost equally.
This open model of governance provides us with the building blocks for every type of political landscape, from dictatorship and corporatism to democracy and socialism. We are both saint and sinner, sometimes simultaneously. America is whatever you want it to be.
The framers recognized that in such an environment, apathy is toxic. As men of action and passion, they understood that you cannot turn your back on this country, in either sense of that phrase, and expect good to come of it. They wrote of this often.
Involvement is key. The good or the evil of a generation can be wiped away by purposeful, diligent hands, making all past achievements, no matter how great, subject to change. That was our founders’ gift to us, and their curse. We can remake ourselves from ashes, but at the same time, we can never be truly secure.
It seems the price for our freedom is indeed eternal vigilance.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
