The Government Is Us?

President Obama delivered a graduation speech at the University of Michigan on Saturday. In it, he raised several points that need addressing. As I started to think through it all, I realized it couldn't be adequately covered in one writing. This one speech will keep me busy for most of this week.

I want to begin with his assertion that government somehow has an inherent goodness:

"What troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad. When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us."

I have heard a lot of people in recent months explaining why big government is dangerous and even evil. I've seen evidence given that government needs to be watched intently as it's natural tendency is to drift toward absorbing more power for itself. I have not, however, read or heard anyone describing it as one would a threatening foreign entity.

It would be much less disconcerting if our struggle were against a foreign entity. It's really more like dealing with a trusted associate you've just found out has been stealing from you and undercutting you for years.

I would also like to point out to the President that the government is supposed to be us in the tradition of "by the people, for the people". As an aside, it is astonishing to me how many "leaders" think those words are from The Declaration of Independence or The Constitution as opposed to their real origin, The Gettysburg Address.

But we do not live in a democracy. It is a representative republic. A quick civics lesson for anyone who slept through high school. That means the people of the country do not have actual decision making power (on a federal level) except to choose their representatives. Those representatives then make the decisions on behalf of those who elected them and in turn answer for those decisions to their constituents.

That is at least the prescribed system of government in our founding documents. When, however, the majority of the population in a representatives district oppose legislation and are ignored or even belittled that system of government is not longer being followed. That is why there is so much anger right now. It's not directed at our system of government. Instead it's directed at those who trample it underfoot. Many of those same people will be called into account come November.

To the extent that our complacency and apathy have contributed to electing unfit representatives, the government is "us". The call that has gone out in recent months is that we remember in November to send people to Washington who understand exactly what that really means. It is not a call to violence as the President alluded to in his speech--which by the way will be the next part I write about. It is a call to be involved and to hold answerable those who ask us to vote for them.