The Labor of Democracy

It is perhaps appropriate on Labor Day to reflect on the amount of work necessary to maintain our democracy. Democracy IS participatory government. As Lincoln said: “…Government of the people, by the people, for the people…” The most important part of that phrase is ‘by the people.’ We are the government.

Max Blumenthal had an interesting editorial the other day in the New York Times that discussed a letter from President Eisenhower to a veteran who was seeking relief from the ‘mental stress and burden’ of democracy. Eisenhower replied that such relief wasn’t safe in a democracy, that only dictatorships relieve the people of the burden of engaging in governance. Eisenhower made the point that ‘in a democracy debate is the breath of life.’

There is a way out of this. Eisenhower was right: let the government decide. Give the power away. In many cases in history, and certainly over the last century, the surrendering of power has always gone hand in hand with governments that promised to make things easier: let ‘us’ handle that for you, you shouldn’t need to worry about X, Y or Z. ‘We’ have experts who have excellent answers.

And so the clamor by some to get the bureaucracy to do something and do it now. But that isn’t how democracy is supposed to work. The Constitution is an interesting (and brilliant) document. The drafters consciously established a government in which the real powers – derived from people – rested in the Legislature. The Legislature was then split in two: the Senate and the House of Representatives. This was done to force slow and deliberate action. Laws were not and are not supposed to be drawn up quickly and passed quickly. The are to be debated, they are to be pushed back and forth, the people’s representatives are supposed to dissect the proposed legislation and have time to reflect on the ramifications of each and every issue.

And, even after a bill is passed, the process to fund the bill is a separate one that again requires both the Senate and the House to act. Passing laws and changing laws is supposed to be slow and difficult. And the people are supposed to be involved. Democracy is painful and the process isn’t neat and clean and easy.

The people have the right, and if you read the writings of the founders – the duty, to petition, to demand that the Congressmen and Senators explain themselves. Further, the very thought that a law would be passed that would not be subject to serious review, as with the many entitlements that now exist, would be viewed as dangerous by the drafters. Such actions are a ceding of power, the surrendering of something that must be constantly guarded.

Certainly, there is an ‘easy way.’ That way will eliminate the ‘stress.’ It has become fashionable on talk shows to talk about what the ‘government’ – which in this case means the bureaucracy should do for us. That because we were mysteriously blessed to have been born here that some people in Washington ought to take care of this or that for us. To give up the burden of the stress of self-rule is to give up power. This is the real road to loss of freedom. In many cases those who eventually become the dictators believe it themselves: they are here to ease your burden. They can make it neat and clean. There is a word for neat and clean government: dictatorships.

But neat and clean is not democracy. Democracy can never be easy because democracy requires that the people participate. And if they participate then every issue is open to debate. Nothing is closed, nothing is forever. Everything can be revisited by the people.

The Star Spangled Banner is the perfect national anthem for a true democracy: it is difficult to sing and requires a great deal of effort to get close to perfect. There couldn’t be a better example for all of us as we participate, as we LABOR in running our country.

The first three words of the Constitution weren’t put there simply to look good. WE THE PEOPLE really means WE THE PEOPLE. We are the government. The people in Washington, and the people in all the state capitals and the county seats and town halls, they are the hired help. They run things while we go about our daily business. But they aren’t in charge. We are. And with the role of being in charge comes the responsibility of being in charge.

The company with a board of directors that sits and lets the CEO do what he wishes is soon a company that goes ‘off the rails.’

We are the board. And there is no proxy allowed. You either vote or not. You either write letters and send e-mails to your Selectmen and Congressmen and Senators or not. You either go to town hall meetings and voice your opinion (on health care, the new bridge, the expansion to the elementary school) or you let someone else decide for you how your taxes will be spent, how your children will be educated, how your neighborhood will be zoned.

This is your country – you NEED to participate. Celebrate the LABOR of democracy.