Topic: Fomenting Democracy
Frequent Reference to Fundamental Principles "...elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and ...all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for publick uses without their own consent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the publick good."by citizenW
(centrist libertarian)
Friday, August 15, 2008
The Bill of Rights comes to us in large part through of the concerns and efforts of George Mason, an elder statesman and mentor to many of the other Founders. He was earlier the primary author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, a source of many of the concepts that are the basis of our form of government. It is worth careful re-reading. Note particularly the phrase "That no free government, or the blessing of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
And note also the following (Section Six) in the Virginia Bill of Rights:
"6. That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for publick uses without their own consent, or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the publick good."
I am a native of Wisconsin. Living in DC for the last 33 years, I have not been eligible during that time to vote for three out of the five major national offices which represent all residents of the fifty "united" states; that is, neither for a voting representative in the House, nor for either of the two Senators for which all residents of the fifty "states" can vote. Surely DC residents have demonstrated "... sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community..." known as the united "states".
The "District Clause", Article I, Section Eight, Clause Seventeen of the United States Constitution, along with the Organic Act of 1801, enforces only a very limited and vicarious participation in civic society by ALL half-a-million-plus residents of the nation's capital, by refusing to allow them the basic right to grant or withhold Consent of the Governed, which our Founders promised to ALL their Posterity, after insuring it by pledging their Lives, their Fortunes, and their Sacred Honor. This clause needs major revision.
Much like the British Declaratory Act of 1766 (q.v.), this above-mentioned clause of the Constitution unwarrantedly arrogates to a national government an Absolute Power over an unrepresented minority, a Power that is the antithesis of the principle that Just Power is Derived from the Consent of the Governed. Even the language of the Declaratory Act is similar to the language of the District Clause. Go figure.
Unfortunately, DC denizens have been largely evicted from direct participation in the civil society of the Nation. It is not OUR Congress, since we have no representation. They are not OUR Judges, Justices and Courts, since we are given no opportunity to either grant or withold our consent in their appointments or operations. It is not really even our CONSTITUTION any more, since we haven't had a say in Amendments 12 through 27. We even have no say in whether our representational status is eventually changed. This is not liberty. We continue to petition our fellow countrymen for redress of these grivences, for over two centuries now, so far to no avail.
Every fifty years the nation seems to make a major improvement in the quest for a More Perfect Union. For example, in 1820 it decided that if all men were created equal, perhaps they should be counted that way, rather than counting non-whites as three-fifths. In 1870, black MEN were even allowed to vote (but reluctantly in many cases, and only after a bitter civil war)! In 1920, after many an undocumented bedroom skirmish that we can only imagine, "WO-men" were allowed to vote. In 1970, "men", for voting purposes, were redefined as members of both genders over the age of 18.
Perhaps by 2020 (only twelve years away), the nation can see fit to redefine denizens of the Nation's Capital, Washington, DC, as "men", and provide them once more with the appropriate recognition and respect for their inalienable right to Consent to their Governance, as enjoyed by all other Citizens, by granting DC denizens the same full representation enjoyed by other Citizens: that is, representation for each Citizen by one ( Voting! ) member of the House, and two Senators.
If we can provide that level of representation for every other Citizen of the nation (even in Wyoming, which has less population), then we can do no less for DC denizens. There are many ways to accomplish this. What is unacceptable is that after all this time no solution has been implemented.
Barring that change, maybe DC denizens DO need guns to enforce our Liberty. Imagine the circumstances that might prevail if the Congress of the fifty States were surrounded by a half-million armed and disgruntled residents of DC. Better, perhaps, that they be allowed ballots, than bullets? But I would hope reason would prevail. We seek Equality, Nothing More, and will settle for Equality, Nothing Less.
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