Real Democracy Is Coming To The U.S.A.
America is not a true Democratic Republic as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison envisioned. For example, its citizens do not receive public higher education, as Jefferson wanted, so public education is limited and inadequate. The news media does not fully inform the public or keep politicians honest, so the public is misled by commercial interests.
Even worse, America does not promote the general welfare or ensure justice for all, because it does not have government that is of the people, by the people, or for the people. Instead, it has government that is of, by, and for the wealthiest few who perpetuate aristocratic traditions because they feel entitled to rule.
Consequently, there is a partisan political battle dividing and polarizing Americans, and it is much like the partisan political battle that was waged between 1790 and 1800 by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. It's really the same old basic argument between those who want their nation to be a Democratic Republic wherein all the people have equal opportunities, who are opposed by those who believe the wealthiest few are entitled to rule.
In 1801 it became very clear that most of the Founding Fathers and the majority of citizens agreed with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. They favored a Democratic Republic and rejected the Hamiltonian Federalists for being too wedded to a wealthy upper class elitist aristocracy. However, while that battle was won, there have been many similar battles since, and the war wages on more bitterly now than ever before.
Now, since right-wing partisan political extremists have been and are even now invoking the names of Founding Fathers as well as invoking the name of Jesus Christ trying to justify themselves, claiming they serve God and Country, it is time to set the record straight.
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America intended to establish and maintain freedom, liberty and sovereign independence. Most of them wanted a Democratic Republic, and they were against hereditary royal monarchy or aristocracy or oligarchy based on wealth. They were particularly against religious Theocracy, ensuring that there be no religious requirement for office, and no law regarding the establishment of religion. They wanted average people to have equal opportunity, and they wanted the people to be free and able to choose leadership that they deemed wise, virtuous, and educated.
Of course, there were a minority of Founding Fathers who were among the Hamiltonian Federalists, who were against Jefferson and against Jeffersonian Democracy. They had a different interpretation of the U.S. Constitution because they preferred the British traditions of aristocracy and the British banking and economic systems that catered to and enabled the wealthiest few.
That is why in 1801 Jefferson's and Madison's Democratic Republican Party defeated the Federalists. And by solidifying Jeffersonian ideals (which Abraham Lincoln later said were "the axioms of a free society") they achieved a huge step in human evolution.
It was just one step, however, because in Article 2 of the Constitution they still maintained the European idea that there must be a chief executive head of state and commander in chief, which is really just a presidential form of monarchy. Even so, they did establish a balance of powers between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government, and what is known as checks and balances of power. And their very progressive and revolutionary acts were the best they could think of to try to establish government that represented the people, with the consent of the people.
However, all the Founding Fathers realized that even though they believed they were doing the best thing at the time, the time might come when the people would need to alter or reform their government, if and when it no longer served their interests. And that is why they wrote Article 5 of the Constitution, to provide methods to amend the Constitution as needed.
That was 225 years ago, and Article 5 still has not been used for its ultimate purpose, which is why the government serves the interests of the wealthiest few to the detriment of everyone else. That’s why the American people’s consent is flimsy, at best, and the people are deeply divided, polarized, and in conflict.
Now many people have realized that the U.S. Government has not yet lived up to the actual intent of its Founding Fathers, and the American Dream has been compromised, to say the least.
In fact, the American Dream has been distorted into the idea that government should enable individuals to gain great personal fame and fortune, and simply forget about promoting the general welfare and ensuring domestic tranquility, equity and justice for all the people.
That idea, or ideology, has produced a culture of greed and self-interest, especially during the last 30 years, and it has caused even many of our young people to be obsessed with material things, like fame, fortune, and superficial image.
Yet, at the same time, most young people no longer trust any politician, and see "the democratic process" of partisan politics as dirty, divisive, and rigged to benefit the wealthiest few regardless of which partisan political party wins.
That is why gentle, conscientious, generous, independent, progressive people of good will have always realized that rather than stoop to the level of aggressive, offensive partisans, the best way to influence people is through truthful, non-offensive, informative speech and effective art, literature, plays, documentaries, movies, and songs.
For example:
“Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. It’s coming to America first, the cradle of the best and worst.” – Leonard Cohen
The brilliant Leonard Cohen understands, as many of us do, that even though the United States of America was originally a great attempt at establishing Democracy, the U.S.A. does not yet have a real Democracy.
The United States of America is neither united nor democratic, and it does not have government of the people, by the people, or for the people. In fact, America is ruled by the wealthiest few who believe they are entitled to rule, and the have bought the kind of government that suits them.
America has an oligarchical Congress and a Supreme Court that are divided and polarized by conflicting partisan political ideologies, and its executive branch is ruled by a partisan presidential form of monarchy.
It is a system that perpetuates conflict and division, and its "democratic process" maintains a state of civil cold war that we've been led to believe is "civilized," even though every election year we see what it really is --- a fight for power that tempts corrupt people to be misleading and even deceptive in order to get what they want.
In spite of the reality, many Americans still believe that their partisan political economic system is the best in the world, and the best that we can produce. They believe that the people must be faced with a choice between partisan political candidates who are sanctioned and sponsored by an official partisan political party and its supporting interest groups. And, even though Independents are allowed to "run" for office, the system is rigged to enable the two major official parties to be the main competitors, and one of their candidates always wins the winner-take-all contest for the presidency.
They win because even before the Supreme Court gave corporations unlimited financial power to influence elections, the wealthiest one percent of the population had been providing 80 percent of the funding for the campaigns of both Republicans and Democrats. And now they can spend even more to ensure the election of whichever candidates they choose.
If you read the article on Partisan Politics you may see how and why our partisan political system has failed. And while there are many reasons for that failure, perhaps the biggest one is that the partisan political system is based on a deep lack of trust in the people to make wise choices on their own, because, after all, we are faced with choices presented to us by others. We do not actually have free choice.
What we need is free choice, because we can trust that, given total freedom and equal opportunity to actually and freely choose who we want to represent us in government, the vast majority of the people will make good choices, especially if we have an educated, informed public citizenry.
Americans need to realize that, as Thomas Jefferson reminded John Adams in a letter in 1813, Jefferson had tried to establish a law providing free higher education at public expense to all qualified students, regardless of their parentage or wealth. Jefferson was against a “psuedo-aristocracy” consisting of a privileged wealthy few. He saw true aristocrats as people from all walks of life, who would succeed in a society which enables all people to have equal opportunity to live up to their God-given potential.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Government has totally ignored Jefferson’s vision in that regard. In fact, during the last 30 years the so-called “religious right” has done much to harm public education and higher education, claiming most educators are “secular humanists” who are “against religion” (even though most educated people are merely against theocratic bigotry).
Some people who call themselves Republicans or Libertarians or Federalists even claim that Jefferson was against Democracy, and in 2004 one of them even fabricated a "quote" they attributed to Jefferson saying he wrote "Democracy is nothing more than mob rule." But, as is explained in the article on Jeffersonian Democracy, experts have said there is no evidence that Jefferson wrote that. In fact, it is contrary to his actual words and actions.
That is why the The 21st Century Declaration of Independence is an update of the Declaration that Thomas Jefferson wrote. It proposes how and why we should alter and reform our government peacefully, as the Founding Fathers suspected would be necessary at some point. It proposes how we could utilize Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution, which the Founding Fathers provided so that we may establish Constitutional amendments to ensure our full and equal rights, and have truly representational government that is actually of, by, and for the people.
As the updated Declaration and the article on How the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth suggests, we can prevent the buying of elections by the wealthiest few. We can eliminate the long, divisive partisan campaign process. We can eliminate paid political advertisements. We can put an end to the divisive partisan political competition for the "throne" of chief executive power, and instead adopt a way to better share the power in a more representational and fair way.
We can, by write-in ballot, nominate and ultimately elect an executive council of six women and six men for an Executive Council, and we can be free to choose whoever we want as members -- people who we think are the most wise, the most fair, the most conscientious and the most admirable people, who are well known for their good works in behalf of all humanity and our world. And we can choose them from any walk of life, because it is the content of their character that should be of utmost importance and the most important qualification.
Of course, it is quite possible that not all those citizens who would be nominated as the most popular choices made by the write-in ballot process would accept the call to serve. However, the twelve men and women who are among the most popular choices who do accept, would be elected and become real representatives of the people in an executive council in the executive branch of government, replacing the chief executive.
There is a danger, of course, that there may be enough right-wing extremists in the country to nominate and elect a few of their leaders to sit on the council, and even though they would surely be overruled by the majority, they could cause conflicts and divisions just as they do now in the legislative and judicial branches of government. However, there is a high probability that when this message is well known and widespread, and when the right-wing extremists are faced with its truth and righteous judgment, many will realize how and why they have been misled. Therefore, the remaining, hard-headed, die hard extremists will be a small fringe minority, with no power.
That is why it is so important to spread the word about this message, and to discuss it in every way possible. For a reformation of government would produce a far greater and more representative democracy than we have now. For the council could operate by consensus, and choose their own facilitator, spokesperson(s) and cabinet members, which could be from among them, or chosen in the traditional way according to education, expertise, and skills.
Furthermore, as is explained in How the Meek Shall Inherit the Earth, we can change and improve Congress, State Legislatures, City Councils and other similar bodies. We could choose people who we think would best represent us, as described in the declaration – people who seek to further a just cause and a positive constructive agenda. We could choose wisely and elect legislative, policy-making bodies made up of fair-minded people who simply want to put their heads together and serve as equals to create truly good government, with good policies, rules, regulations and laws that will benefit all of us, protect all of us, and serve all of us.
In other words, we can, and we should, establish a Real Democracy.
Real Democracy
We should consider that the early Greeks established a pretty good form of democracy 400 years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The word Democracy comes from the Greek word meaning "rule of the people." One Greek wrote that "power should be in the hands of the whole people," rather than in the hands of one monarchial chief executive or an oligarchy of a relative few, and many agreed. Some even had the idea was that all citizens must have an equal voice, and there was recognition that in a democracy the poor have more power than the rich, because there are more of them.
Unfortunately, before long that idea was ignored. In fact, the idea about the poor having more political power than the rich died out pretty quickly, and it was replaced by the idea that political leadership should rightfully be in the hands of a deserving, superior, virtuous aristocracy.
The problem is, as it has often been throughout history ever since then, that true virtue has often not been the hallmark of political leadership. In fact, very often political power has been in the hands of a corrupt wealthy few who have been able to impose their will by hiring paid armed guards, police forces and armies. And most nations and states have been ruled by the richest few who have considered themselves royalty, nobility, aristocracy, or the upper class.
Americans, of course, are not comfortable talking about class, unless it’s about the "middle class," because they don’t want to admit there’s an upper and lower class. It probably sounds "too European." But, whatever the wealthiest few Americans consider themselves these days, even now they are the privileged few who hold and control 90 percent of the wealth and power.
Of course, Thomas Jefferson called such people "pseudo-aristocracy,"and he thought political leadership should not be determined by wealth, but by education and true virtue. That's why he and other Founding Fathers tried to plant the seed of real democracy in America in 1776, believing that government should exist only by the consent of the governed, and that all citizens and all religions should be regarded as equal in the sight of the government.
But it did not really take hold. Regardless of and in spite of Jeffersonian ideals the most aggressive religious leaders continued their theocratic efforts, and the wealthiest few still ruled.
The wealthiest few figured out how to make it appear as if the government had the "consent of the governed" by giving the people the choice between candidates for office, as presented and authorized by opposing partisan political parties. But, those opposing partisan parties have been financed by the wealthiest few, now so more than ever.
The most selfish of the wealthiest few tend to act like aristocracy, and feel they deserve to rule. In the late 1800s that was conspicuous, as it was in the 1920s and as it has been increasingly during the last 30 years. The rich keep getting richer, the poor and the working poor keep getting poorer, and the middle class gets smaller and smaller as more and more people fall into the working poor population.
Most people in most nations are in the same boat. But, while some people think partisan party politics will do the trick if only they can achieve victory over the opposing party; while some other people think the only answer is in some form of Communism (which Karl Marx came up with in the mid-1800s); and while still other people think that Religious Theocracy will establish good and righteous government, they are ALL wrong.
First, partisan party politics only perpetuates conflict, division, and instability, and while it may create the appearance of having the "consent" of the people, that’s become a stretch. Secondly, while Marx was justifiably angered at the European capitalistic nobility and aristocracy, he was wrong in calling for violent revolution to overthrow and destroy the capitalists, and most subsequent Communists have been even more wrong in advocating and perpetuating totalitarian rule. And thirdly, "good theocracy" is an oxymoron, because true servants of God do not seek to rule the people, but to counsel, liberate and empower them.
Now is the time for all good, conscientious people to come together, to stand up and demonstrate your will and be counted, to bring about a peaceful, nonviolent revolution and reformation and establish government that is truly of, for and by the people. For the average people who are the humble and meek of this world shall indeed inherit the earth. But it will not happen unless and until we make it happen.
Money Now Rules, But the People Can Have the True Power
We will not have true democracy until we stop and prevent the power of money to influence political campaigns, or to influence politicians, law-makers and policy makers, and fool people.
Americans need to realize that in that regard, the U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow giant corporations to invest as much money as they want in political campaigns and political advertisements is an atrociously wrong and bad decision.
Known as Citizens United vs. FEC, it wound up dictating that private businesses, including for-profit corporations, have a right to spend as much money as they want to elect or defeat candidates in political campaigns at all levels. That decision reversed numerous Supreme Court precedents and dozens of long-standing campaign finance laws at the federal and state level, enabling corporations to establish what could be called a Corporatocracy (even more than they already had).
Fortunately, the U.S. Constitution contains provisions that enable Congress and the states to overturn such decisions with ordinary legislation. One of those provisions is in Article 3, Section 2, Clause 2, which states that there are exceptions to the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, and Congress may overrule the Court through the legislative process. The Founding Fathers carefully wrote the Constitution to protect the republic against a rogue Court, including the “Exceptions Clause” because they foresaw the potential problems that could be caused by a partisan Court that serves special interests.
We must do that now, because it was bad enough that corporate funding of political campaigns had already driven the ad wars, and corporate lobbyists wield all the power that money can buy to influence and bribe members of Congress.
For example, watch this video of the Sixty Minutes interview of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who finally listened to his conscience and exposes the utter corruption of lobbyists and members of Congress. And consider that just in the first three months of 2009 the corporations and industries spent at least $500 Million on lobbying to influence politicians in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $47 Million last year on political issue ads on TV, mostly against health care reform, and they spent another $144 Million on lobbying Congress to fight any regulation of corporations.
In fact, the Chamber of Commerce is the most powerful influence on the public and on Congress, serving the interest of profit-making corporations to the detriment of the environment and the public. And now, the court’s ruling has enabled new right-wing groups like the American Action Network (ANN), which paid for slanderous, misleading and often false attack ads against Democrats in the 2010 mid-term election season and later during the fight over health care reform. It’s funded by the ultra wealthy and their corporations, and its board consists of right-wing Republican politicians and millionaire and billionaire businessmen, industrialists and financiers.
Perhaps even more telling is that the wealthiest one percent of Americans have in recent presidential elections provided 80 percent of the financial funding for the political campaigns of both Republicans and Democrats. They apparently consider it insurance, so that no matter which party wins, they win.
But they know who serves their interests most obediently, and their most loyal servants now include Republicans and five member of the Supreme Court. That is one of the reasons why money now rules more completely than ever before. The powers-that-be are the wealthiest few, and they serve their own interests at our expense.
The extremely partisan, right-wing Court serves the interests of the wealthiest few and the U.S. Religious Military Industrial Police State that enables and protects them and the wealthiest Americans. But it is detrimental to the majority of Americans, and to the vast majority of other people in the world. And yet over the last 30 years it has increasingly been indulged and inflated by those who have claimed to be religious and patriotic citizens who serve God and Country, when in fact they are among the deceptive forces of greed and self-interest.
We must, therefore, face facts, because civilization, and indeed even the human race, will not survive if right-wing “Conservatives” keep either having their way or obstructing and preventing reform and progress.
The truth is that what they strive to conserve are mainly the political, economic and religious traditions and institutions that have allowed them to gain power, wealth and domain in the world. And, in fact, their focus on materialistic concerns has caused them to lose sight of what is most valuable in the world, which we should conserve above all else.
That is clear if you look at what they have NOT conserved. Just look at the degradation and deterioration of our environment, the oceans, our waterways, our atmosphere, our infrastructure, and the standard of living of the majority of the people and especially the working poor — all of which have suffered because the wealthiest few control most of the wealth, invest much of it in lobbying legislators and buying or influencing elections, and want government to spend taxpayers money mainly on police and military forces and all other means that will protect their wealth and enable them to gain more.
The culture of greed and self-interest they have created has, especially during the last hundred years, been detrimental to many people in the world, and it has brought a terrible tribulation upon the earth. And we, the people, are the only ones who can and will fix it -- by initiating and peacefully bringing about a reformation of both religion and government so that they both serve the interests of humanity as a whole body.
The fulfillment of the actual, real prophecies of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and of all other divinely inspired religions of the world, foretells it. The prophets foresaw a future of harmony and peace following this terrible conflict and tribulation. But, we will not enter that future unless and until we expose and refute the hypocrites and establish freedom and justice for all. That, in fact, is what Jesus of Nazareth intended, foresaw, and prophesied, as did all other genuine prophets.
A Democratic Republic
What we need is a Democratic Republic, with real Democracy. That is what Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other Founding Fathers tried to establish, but even though they prevailed in their day against the Hamiltonian Federalists who claimed they wanted a Republic, Jefferson's and Madison's view eventually faded because the Hamiltonian idea persisted and prevailed in the long run. Why? Because it was more like Plato’s, whose writings and ideas have influenced and enabled wealthy elites and aristocracies ever since.
The traditional definition of a real Republic is a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizenry entitled to vote, and political power is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by the whole body of citizens.
You see, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and other Framers of the Constitution were indeed concerned about the what democracy could become, which is why they tried to establish a balance of government powers and limits on power, and an intricate system of checks and balances. But they wanted a Democracy in a Democratic Republic, and they trusted in the ability of the people to use a democratic process to try to establish a government that was of the people, by the people, and for the people, which would promote the general welfare and ensure domestic tranquility and justice for all the people, and deal with ongoing problems.
That was in large part why the Founders, including Madison, wrote the Commerce Clause granting Congress power to regulate interstate commerce, assuming that democratically elected representatives of the people would actually serve in the best interests of all citizens to promote the general welfare of all the American people.
Unfortunately, the Reaganite ideology runs counter to that in many ways, as is discussed in several other articles. And that is especially evident in the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, which is apparently preparing to reverse the Founding Fathers with regard to the Commerce Clause. That is because five Reaganite Republican justices -- John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito, believe in what Ronald Reagan said at the end of his second term as president.
Reagan said: "There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts." He also said: "Through more and more rules and regulations and confiscatory taxes, the government was taking more of our money, more of our options, and more of our freedom."
That was extremely misleading, but, because it was delivered by a very charming television performer and corporate pitchman who may have sincerely believed what he said, many people believed it.
Now, however, Americans should understand Ronald Reagan's Real Legacy, and understand that the Reaganite ideology was born of a merger of a pseudo-conservative movement called Neo-Conservatism and corporate propaganda, which Reagan learned well from top executives at the General Electric Corporation as he was very carefully groomed for a career in politics.
The Reaganite ideology has sought to indoctrinate Americans with the idea that government is the problem, not the solution, that labor unions are bad, that government regulations are oppressive and wrong, and that taxes are “confiscatory” and unfair, and take away our freedom.
The truth, however, is that our freedom is ensured not by banks or corporations. Our freedom is ensured only by a good government the protects us all, that promotes the general welfare and ensure justice for all. And, even though the Reaganites have succeeded during the last 30 years in selling that ideology to many Americans, it is actually an un-American, un-Constitutional ideology concocted by the greediest of the wealthiest few who simply do not want to be regulated or taxed according to their ability to pay.
Government cannot operate without sufficient revenue to provide sufficient regulation of commerce, to provide for public safety and the common defense, to build and maintain the infrastructure, promote the general welfare, and ensure justice for all -- among all the other things that good government should provide. And in order to do that all citizens need to contribute to the common wealth for the common good, and pay taxes according to their ability to pay.
In spite of that, the Reaganites on the U.S. Supreme Court operate under the assumption that Reaganism is a good ideology and that the Federalist Society that was formed during Reagan’s first term as president is correct in its interpretation of the Constitution. But Reagan was wrong, and the Federalist Society is wrong, which is readily apparent by the utter failure of Reaganism as it infected America with a corrupt culture of greed and self-interest that increasingly caused more and more problems during the last 30 years.
We still suffer from it, not only because the Supreme Court made things worse in its recent decisions favoring corporations and the wealthiest few to the detriment of the vast majority of the people, but because Republicans and even some Democrats in Congress and the Executive Branch have done the same.
That is why we need a reformation of government, recognizing that a real Republic is a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizenry entitled to vote, and political power is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by the whole body of citizens, not merely the wealthiest few who think their wealth entitles them to rule.
However, as was stated above, we should be able to directly choose who represents us, because as it is the U.S.A. is neither a Republic nor a Democracy, and we the people do not have free choice to determine who represents us. We are presented with choices, which gives the appearance that we have a choice.
That is ultimately our fault, because we allowed it, albeit unwittingly and naively. But it is largely the fault of both Republicans and Democrats, and even though the Republicans are worse, the Democrats have proven themselves to actually be the “lesser of two evils” that divide us and keep us divided and weak.
Right-wing Republicans are the worst, however, because they blatantly serve the forces of greed and self-interest while pretending to serve all the people. For the right-wing Republican idea of a Republic is rather like Plato’s, who wrote the following:
"Until philosophers rule as kings or those who are now called kings and leading men genuinely and adequately philosophize, that is, until political power and philosophy entirely coincide, while the many natures who at present pursue either one exclusively are forcibly prevented from doing so, cities will have no rest from evils,... nor, I think, will the human race." (Plato's Republic 473c-d)
Plato describes these "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth," and he supports the idea by reasoning that a ship must have a captain and sick people must have a doctor and his medicine. According to Plato, the people as a whole are not qualified to command the ship or heal themselves.
However, Plato’s logic in that respect has proven problematic. And we must consider that Plato's Mentor Socrates believed that the philosophic soul has reason, will, and desires united in virtuous harmony. A good philosopher has the moderate love for wisdom and the courage to act according to wisdom, and wisdom is knowledge about the good or the right relations between all people.
The Wisdom of Socrates is rather like the Wisdom of King Solomon, who wrote that: “Wisdom produces friends of God and prophets. She is firm, but Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all Her paths are peace. She is a Tree of Life to them that lay hold upon Her. And Wisdom is far better than weapons of war.”
To be even more specific, Solomon also wrote, in the same vein, "Be wise and consider the ways of the ants, which having no guide, overseer or ruler, provide food in the summer and gather in the harvest."
That is consistent with the wisdom of Samuel, who wrote: "If you want a king, you reject God."
It is also consistent with Jeremiah's prophecy, which states: "In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord of our righteousness. For thus says the Lord: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel." -- Jeremiah 33:15-17
The Lord of Righteousness is not actually "she," as Jeremiah wrote, nor is the Lord our God a man, nor a son of man, as Moses wrote. For God, by any other name, is God the Eternal Infinite One, the Great Spirit-Parent of all. And God's will is for government to not be on the shoulders of one man, but for one man who was chosen by God to liberate and empower the people so that they may govern themselves.
When government is not of the people, by the people, or for the people, whoever rules does not serve all the people. If we are ruled by an aristocracy, a wealthy elite, a nobility, an oligarchy, philosopher kings, or a presidential form of monarchy, we cannot have government of, by, or for the people. For power in the hands of one, or a privileged few, does not produce a true Democracy or Republic.
Therefore, Plato’s logic is flawed in his opinion about who should be entitled to rule, because it is aristocratic. It led to the idea that certain people are entitled to rule over the masses. That idea ruled Europe, and it even tainted the views of some of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
For example, that idea motivated the Hamiltonian Federalists to strive to establish a “Republic” as a “Christian Meritocracy.” That is because Alexander Hamilton, in his bid for the presidency, put forth the idea that wealthy Christians were entitled to rule meritoriously, because they had “made good” with financial success, and were morally good.
That, of course, is not necessarily true. Greedy, selfish people can and have become very rich, and hypocrites can and do pretend to be Christians and thump their bible to gain respect and power. That has been proven true many times even in the short history of the United States of America, and it has proven true especially during the last 30 years.
Unfortunately, the Hamiltonian Federalist idea was picked up again in the early 1920s, and we all know how that turned out (and thank God Franklin D. Roosevelt saved the country from that). But, in spite of that, the Republicans under Ronald Reagan picked it up again in 1981 – that idea of a Republican Christian Meritocracy – and it has flourished and persisted even to today.
Now, we, the people, must act to stop the madness, the corruption, the abuse of power, the unfairness, and the injustice. Only we, the people, can establish justice, equity, and fairness, by establishing a real democracy in which the Supreme Court justices are appointed by an executive council, not a partisan president. That would ensure justice for all.
If we don't stand up for ourselves, who will? And if not now, when?
The Messiah says it is up to us all. So let's assume the power to determine our destiny and share our divine inheritance. Let's do what needs to be done, as The 21st Century Declaration of Independence suggests.
(Continued at Real Democracy, Part 2, which makes further suggestions and recommendations.)