Government of the People, by the People, for the People. NOT.
By Michael S. Rozeff
July 19, 2013
The U.S. government is certainly NOT of the people, NOT by the
people, and NOT for the people. In the vernacular of the day, what do
we have? Government of the People, by the People, for the People. NOT.
I submit that the people or peoples that inhabit a certain portion of
North America known as America did not overthrow the government of
Iran in 1953. They did not direct themselves into the Vietnam War.
They did not decide to bomb Serbia, starve the people of Iraq, and
later invade Iraq. They didn't decide to debase the dollar. They did
not devise or pass Obamacare. They did not decide to bail out Wall
Street investment bankers or hedge funds. They did not decide to
militarize America's police. They did not decide to have a war on
drugs with stiff prison sentences. They didn't decide to have a war
on poverty. They didn't decide to have a massive NSA program of
surveillance and spying on themselves and the rest of the world and
then to keep it secret from themselves. A certain number of Americans
may have been polled and their positive, negative and ambiguous
opinions sounded out on some of these actions, but the People
certainly didn't make these decisions and many other important decisions.
Obama's agenda has been his own. The same goes for his predecessors.
The People have never written a State of the Union address that
contained the president's favorite causes and agenda. What the people
have done is to supply the bodies and the resources to the State and
to obey its laws and directives, and all of that under the threats
that if they did not obey, they would be punished.
The People simply do not have decision rights on what the State does.
In the normal course of events, what the State does is out of the
People's hands. Occasional mass protests, polls or votes have
influence on the State, but only temporarily so and not to any
substantial degree. The People are not running the ship of State.
In a masterpiece of political propaganda, the Gettysburg Address,
Lincoln penned one of the most famous slogans in American history:
"that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall
not perish from the earth."
Lincoln was referring to the U.S. government, but U.S. government has
never fit such a description. A government of that description with
its seat in Washington could not have perished from the earth in 1863
because no such government existed in the first place. What existed
was a State, one that Lincoln wanted to be large, permanent and growing.
This slogan has been fabulously successful at getting people to
identify with, acquiesce in and support the State and its
administrative apparatus. Schoolchildren are encouraged to memorize
the Address or at least that clause.
"Of the people" makes people think that the State's officials and
bureaucrats are drawn from "us" and are "of us". Physically, they
are. Morally and behaviorally, they are not. Their intentions and
actions differ drastically from us. It is the difference between
rulers and the ruled, between sovereigns and subjects, and between
masters and slaves.
The rulers, who are apart from us, over us, and wield powers
unavailable to us, would have us believe that they are "one with us".
Obama is still saying the same thing as Lincoln almost 150 years
later when he tells us:
"<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhj9Rf1p868>The government is us [sic]."
The phrase "by the people" fools people into thinking that American
government is being accomplished by everyone in a team effort and by
team decisions. A democratic consensus is supposed to be at work, or
else in republican fashion, the people are not construed to have
rulers but representatives who are agents. We are supposed to believe
that they sense and read our collective will and then translate it
into laws and regulations, taxes and wars, programs and debts, for
our own good, for the general welfare. These are the illusions
fostered by those who enter the ruling elite.
These illusions are designed to make people think that they are
governing themselves. The State's apparatus of potentially unlimited
despotism is substituted for self-government and for limited
government that protects rights.
Does voting mean that government is by the people? Ask yourself what
influence you have on any legislation by your vote or by your vote in
conjunction with others. Many members of Congress frequently do not
even have an influence, neither reading the massive bills nor knowing
what is in them. A few members and lobbyists are writing laws in the
dead of night. Hearings are rigged.
What influence do you have on what a president decides? What
influence do you have on what a Supreme Court says is or is not law?
What influence do you have on what a Congress legislates?
What influence do you have on who is elected to office and who your
representatives are? In 1789, there were less than 30,000
constituents for each representative in the House. Today that number
is about 700,000.
Most of those who are elected to national office are candidates of
the two major parties, which themselves are entrenched by
behind-the-scenes rules and laws. These parties vet the candidates
using criteria and processes of politics and finance that are not
constructed by the people but by the party's leaders and suppliers of
money. The resulting representatives do not represent issues and
priorities of the people, and they are not beholden to them but to
their backers and financiers. Furthermore, if they wish to remain in
Congress and gain power, they must accede to the priorities of the
more powerful politicians that they must work with inside the State's system.
If the apparatus of the State, commonly called government as by
Lincoln or "the" government as by Obama, is not of or by the people,
is it "for the people"? This is hardly possible given the ways in
which the offices and bureaus of government are filled and the ways
that priorities are established, taxes imposed and decisions made. It
is impossible to think that an organization with the powers of the
State, that can instill fear of punishment and can actually punish
anyone who does not pay their taxes or do exactly as they're told to
do, is making decisions "for" us and not for their own interests and
those who control the organization.
Obama follows the well-worn path of apologists for the State when he
says "The government is us". The government is not We the People --
not us -- when the ruling apparatus is that of a State, as is the
case in America and many other nations.
A State is an organization that always is manned by an elite bent on
domination for its own purposes. Its powers are not unlimited, but
their expansion can become exceedingly uncomfortable for those forced
to submit to them or who mistakenly support them. When the elite
poses as a popular movement or the democratic voice of the people or
the leadership of the general will or the vanguard of the people, it
is at its most dangerous for then it possesses a rationale that may
result in the acquiescence of large numbers of its subjects who tie
their own nooses.
A State always has a government, but not all government is of a
State. Government refers to the governing body of such groups as a
nation, State, tribe, aggregation of people, federation, association
or community. A nation and a people need not have a State, but they
still can have a system by which they govern themselves. Members of a
church may govern themselves. A corporate organization can govern its
own behavior. A clan can develop its own government. So can a
commune, a scientific community or an industry.
The State is peculiar in its claim to be the final word in government
in a territory. It is ironic that as the form of government has
become more democratic over the past few centuries, that is,
supposedly of the people, by the people and for the people, the
government has in reality become more all-encompassing and more
oligarchic. The form does not accord with the substance. This is in
part because the State has had the power of being the final word and
the democratic form has reinforced the legitimacy of its sovereignty.
The mythical "of the people, by the people, for the people" has
reinforced the actual "not of the people, not by the people, not for
the people".
The myth of self-rule in the face of very real elite rule has not
acted alone in enlarging the State. Certain ideas that previously
limited the scope of the State and its government have been greatly
reduced in importance, sometimes perverted, or even have fallen by
the wayside; and the democratic form provides no resistance to their
absence, in fact, it supports the degradation of these ideas and the
expansion of government under the State's power. Certain other ideas
have risen greatly in esteem and importance in supposedly providing
support to enlarging the State. A few examples follow. Natural law
has fallen in esteem and positive law has risen. Common law has
fallen and civil codes have risen. Self-reliance has fallen and
expert rule has risen. Individual responsibility has fallen and
social causation risen. Neutrality has fallen and expansionism risen.
Negative rights have fallen and positive rights risen. Moral codes
have fallen and pragmatism risen. Distrust of the State has fallen
and trust in the State has risen. God has fallen and the State has risen.
Throughout these alterations in ideas, the statists have continually
promoted Lincoln's slogan "of the people, by the people, for the
people", Obama's pronouncement being a recent prominent example. The
statists want a pliant and acquiescent people, not an active thinking
people that questions the State or its constantly increasing
encroachments. Witness the State's reactions to the Occupy movement
and to Assange, Manning and Snowden. These are further evidence of
Government of the People, by the People, for the People. NOT.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/07/michael-s-rozeff/government-of-the-people-by-the-people-for-the-people/
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