Essay number eight: by The Midnight Writer

How Do We Create a Just Government?

If you agree with me that the only two functions of government should be to protect the rights if the individual citizen and to coordinate those things the citizens have in common, then a just government would need to be a republic where the citizens control their destiny and no ruling elite could be established. In the six thousand years of recorded history, the Constitution of the United States of America was the closest to fulfilling that need.

Prior to the creation of the United States, the prevalent form of government was a feudal system or serfdom. Europe was controlled by Kings, Lords, Dukes, Barons, etc. They were a ruling elite that owned all of the land and controlled all of the means of production. Most other citizens were serfs with little hope of improving their station in life.

With the discovery of America, Europeans began coming to the new land in search of freedom and the ability to pursue their own dreams. Although the prosperity in America was growing, the people were still under the controlling thumb of a tyrannical European government. Thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain and created the United States.

The Founding Fathers, holding in reverence the rights of the individual, created a constitution and a government designed to protect those rights above all others. Unfortunately, the constitution fell short of their hopes. With the formation of political parties, and no term limits on politicians, a new ruling elite was being created.

Those who were intended to serve their country and return to the private sector began seeking politics as a career. Becoming obsessed with the power and control afforded to them, they set about proving that power corrupts. They sold their influence to greedy industrialists and bankers. They spent most of their time seeking to get reelected. By the early nineteen hundreds they became so corrupted that many formed a progressive movement designed to destroy the constitution. For them the constitution was just a document that restricted their access to the absolute power they were seeking.

Today our government no longer resembles the republic our Founding Fathers envisioned. The government that exists today is unsustainable and will soon fall like a house of cards. It is not because the concept of a republic with a free market economy failed. It is because the ruling elite abandoned the republic in their pursuit of power over the masses.

History has taught us that the only just government is one controlled by the people who are being governed and not by a ruling elite. The Founding Fathers did an admirable job of enumerating our individual rights but they failed to protect us from a new ruling elite being established.

It will take a herculean effort to reestablish our individual rights and the republic that we were intended to be. It could perhaps require a constitutional convention. It would require changing the way we elect individuals to serve in the government in a way that would make it impossible for a ruling elite to exist. Obviously the current ruling elite will not allow that happen without a fight.

I can see three possibilities for change. There may be other ways. If there are I am open to suggestions.

The first is a massive effort to educate the public well enough to elect officials dedicated to this purpose. I have committed myself to this way because the other two ways would be extraordinarily painful. Our greatest weapon is knowledge but it is useless if we don’t wield it.

The second way is to wait for the devastating collapse of the economy and pray that enough well educated people are there to pick up the pieces. If the collapse were to happen now, with so many of the citizens ignorant about politics, we would assuredly end up living under a socialist dictatorship.

The third way is frightening. Guided by the principles contained in the Declaration of Independence, a new declaration could be issued. It would result in war and bloodshed. I pray that nothing this severe happens but it would be preferable to the horrors resulting from a socialist dictatorship.

If there is a successful change some day, the next issue suggests a possible solution to electing public servants that would go a long way toward preventing the establishment of a new ruling elite.