We Do Ordain And Establish

The Establishment is not the problem.

Those who are elected to run The Establishment are the problem.


President Obama said it best:

You’ll hear a lot of folks, by the way, say that government is broken. Well, government and politics are two different things. Government is our troops who are fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s government. Government are also those FEMA folks when there’s a flood or a drought or some emergency who come out and are helping people out. That’s government. Government is Social Security. Government are teachers in the classroom. Government are our firefighters and our police officers, and the folks who keep our water clean and our air clean to breathe, and our agricultural workers. And when you go to a national park, and those folks in the hats — that’s government.

So don’t be confused — as frustrated as you are about politics, don’t buy into this notion that somehow government is what’s holding us back…. [D]on’t buy into this whole notion that somehow government doesn’t do us any good; government is what protects us. The government is what built the Interstate Highway System. Government is what sent a man to the Moon. It’s what invested in the research and development that created innovations all across this country.

The Federal Government in the United States is, in and of itself, not broken. It functions as it should, protecting us, providing for us, and ensuring the liberty of all. The bulk of our government is bureaucracy, people who vary little from one administration or one Congress to the next. They go about their business, day-in and day-out, ensuring the operation of a nation. Much of what is the function of the government is done automatically, without the direct interference of elected officials.

Where government ceases to operate as it should, is at the upper levels, the realm of the elected, where representatives of The People jostle and joust for control of the vast machinery of governance, seeking to place their own imprimatur upon it. Here is where the breakdown occurs, the disconnect between The People who are the nation and the government that is supposed to support them. This disconnect occurs because the representatives we elect -- and this has been true for decades -- do not actually represent us, but their political party. They are far more concerned with shuffling for supremacy within their party, or fighting over their message, than applying their will to following the commands of the people who elected them. They see their party's agenda as superior to the magnanimous and broad-reaching freedom granted us by the Constitution. The seek to alter and tweak government to ride their party's agenda exclusively, to the detriment of anyone who chooses not to see their "brilliance."

Political parties, their adherents, and the back-door organizations that fund them, are allowed to run -- or better yet, not run -- the country in contravention of the Constitution's precepts by we, The People. We put these people in charge, over and over, never calling them into account for their obfuscations and obstruction. We listen to their flowery and fiery rhetoric, believing every word uncritically, failing to peer behind the words to see their meaning. We do not keep an eye on them, follow them closely, stay observant of their actions, allowing them to operate with nigh-impunity in the vacuum that is Washington, D.C. We allow them to frame the dialog on the state of the nation, rather than making them listen to us about how it really is.

If you want to complain about how this nation is run and how it works, fine, but I suggest that before you do, you take a critical look at just what is broken. You might be surprised to find that your assumptions are due to a lack of focus. You can start by looking at those who claim to have your best interests at heart and see exactly what they have been up to. Yo may find their claims do not match the evidence. Once you have done so, take it upon yourself to take up the mantel once more, and work to fill Washington, D.C. with responsible governors and not political party sycophants. We control the government, and it is time we reasserted our authority.