As we celebrate this July 4th,
the state of our republic is troubled. Two core principles of American democracy are under attack … the role of
government and the democratic process. And the attack is cynically being waged
under the banner of protecting our system and our rights from the power of
government.
As we all know, the Declaration of
Independence’s most famous line is, “All men are created equal,” and that they
have “unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Less commonly known are the
words that follow … “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men.” In other words, the role of government is to act in a way so as to
secure the rights of the people to equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
Both of these thoughts were
truly revolutionary in a world where governments were in the hands of and
benefited solely those with power and wealth. This new view of the role of
government and the equality of all people was the cornerstone of the American
republic, despite the fact that it would take almost a century for
African-Americans to become legally equal and another 50 years for women.
Over the course of the last
century, after suffrage was made universal and all citizens were finally deemed
to have the rights embodied in the Declaration, the role of government in
securing those unalienable rights for all evolved of necessity to helping the
less fortunate through a variety of government programs. Prominent among them have been universal
education, Social Security, labor laws, government welfare, and
Medicare/Medicaid.
Without these programs,
government recognized that the legal equality of all people was meaningless.
People needed to be given real equal opportunity to pursue their rights. Both
Republicans and Democrats agreed on this basic principle, but would of course
regularly disagree on the particulars of government programs to secure that
equality.
With regards to the process
of our democracy since universal suffrage, it can best be summarized by the
dictum, “One man, one vote.” This means that every citizen of voting age should
be able to vote and that each person’s vote should count the same.
Viewed in this light, the
Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United makes a farce of our democratic process by caring
only for form, not substance. If those with wealth and power have the ability
through television advertising to in effect control an election because of the
disproportionate influence of such advertising, then those with wealth and
power have achieved their aims through the back door. Who votes is of little consequence if the real power lies
elsewhere.
Only if candidates are on an
equal or relatively equal financial footing can there be the fair contest of
ideas that is essential to our democracy and to the efficacy of freedom of
speech.
The health of our economy
and the business community is of vital importance to the health of our country
and the welfare of its citizens. But we have long since passed the day when one
would say, “What’s good for General Motors, is good for the country.” The same
criticism holds true for the radical pro-business, anti-government policies of
the Koch brothers, the Tea Party, and their Republican allies. Our democracy
depends on a balance between private rights, the public good, and government.
We are as Lincoln said, a
government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Let us not
pervert that heritage by making our system a government “of big business, by
big business, and for big business.” Let us learn from the past, not return to
it.
