Common Sense II

Why our democratic system has lost its way and the case for impeachment.

Thomas Paine, in his famous pamphlet “Common Sense” written in 1776, discusses the inequalities and shortcomings of monarchies and hereditary succession. We see from his discussion that war was a major issue at that time as it is today, and much of the document makes the case that war is the result of government by monarchies. “In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology there were no kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion.” He spent a great deal of his argument examining the scriptures and the history of Israel and specifically recounts the rise of Samuel as a leader of the Jews and the beginning of the problems of monarchies. Here we see the rise of taxation, the establishment of armies, and Paine quotes from the scriptures: “he will take your fields and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his officers and to his servants" And Paine comments “by which we see that bribery, corruption, and favouritism, are the standing vices of Kings.” He attributes the source of the problem to “hereditary pretensions”, and relies on the argument that the individual rights of each man, if respected, should overcome this problem. However, he even admits that Saul, the first king of the Jews, was chosen by “casting of lots” which is a random method similar today to the drawing of a lottery. So it appears that the arguments may have some holes in them. However, it does make logical sense that the choosing of a leader of a State should not be left to inheritance, to which Paine states that such a method could as well produce an ass as a lion. Comparing this to the ancient method of casting of lots, at least with a lottery there may be some preselection process whereby candidates with obviously lack of abilities and education or of inappropriate age are excluded. So I agree completely with Paine that hereditary succession is a pathetic and irrational method of choosing a leader.

But if that is the case, how did such a system evolve and become an institution in much of world? Paine does not discuss this, at least in Common Sense. If he had, I think he would agree that the source of this insidious plague is the acquisition and continued possession of wealth and power. These “crowned ruffians” as Paine calls them, have enslaved entire States and empires and use the system of hereditary succession to pass it on to their progeny.

Now in the 21st Century, we have the privilege of looking back at the history of the United States. Once this country was formed with a Constitution based on representative democracy, were Thomas Paine’s predictions and theories accurate? Would the elimination of the British monarchy and hereditary succession eliminate war?

We can look at this statement and wonder why did this country, after its founding and the creation of the Constitution and a democratic government do we continue to have wars? Were these all wars of defense, in which case we might justify them? Were they wars in which our government came to the aid of a suffering population and freed them from totalitarianism, bondage and persecution? I don’t think that this argument can be made in most cases either. So, was Paine wrong?

Within fifteen years of signing of the Constitution, the United States was fighting a war with Britain once again, and some say this was an unnecessary war based on the desire to expand the borders of the United States northward into Canada. The refusal of the New England States to send troops to this war, however, was an indication that democracy did have its effects and influences and may have prevented the United States from appropriating Canadian lands.

Later we have the Mexican-American War, an obvious war of aggression by the United States against a weaker opponent which occupied lands on its southern border. Mexico had laws forbidding slavery and this issue, along with others, convinced many Texans to join up with the United States, which lead to the war.

We also had ongoing wars against Native Americans, and later, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I and II, etc. Has democracy allowed us to avoid wars? Obviously not. But the argument can be made that democracy has generally lessened the impacts and extent of these wars. The United States did not subjugate and annex the entire country of Mexico; it did relegate lands to the Native Americans, and the Civil War did lead to the ending of slavery. Cuba and the Philippines are independent of the United States. Germany and Japan are not colonies of the United States. Would these events have occurred if the United States were a monarchy or under British colonial rule? The British eliminated slavery in its colonies in 1834 so here we have a real conundrum, but Paine never discussed slavery. Democracy is only as fair as the majority of the voters.

Also, Paine left out discussion of whether corporations like the East India Company constitute a monarchy or even an antidemocratic entity with monopolistic powers endowed to it by the State. The writers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were well aware of the dangers inherent in corporations and to counter them wrote these documents to protect “We the People”, which in no way was intended to included corporations. But sadly, the courts do not agree, and today we live in a nation where corporations enjoy all the rights of individuals, for instance, the right to free speech (e.g., purchase political ads), the right to privacy (e.g., to keep closed books). And due, to their wealth and power in comparison in individuals, corporations now dominate the political process, corrupting civic power.

Other issues, some of which Paine touches on in his Common Sense, include a number of other dangers presented by large centralized governments, including taxation and standing armies. The Constitution of the United States does not give the power of taxation to the federal government, but relies on the States for funds to operate. This may seem odd today where we have a situation in which States need to beg the federal government for funds for schools, highways, and emergencies. Here we see how the federal government has overstepped its powers and gained the upper hand financially over the States. Concerning standing armies, the Constitution specifically forbids the maintenance of a standing army in peace times and provides that the people can maintain militias, or State militias. Again the federal government has overstepped its powers and maintains a large standing army, navy, and air force in direct violation of the Constitution. In times of war, the States are requested to send troops, and in this way, the States maintain some buffering effect on the federal government’s ability to go to war. During the War of 1812, for instance, we see that some New England states refused to send troops as they did not see the war as justified, necessary or beneficial.

Today we see that corporations have all the rights of “We the People”. Through some very creative use of the Fourteenth Amendment (which ended slavery), corporations are now considered “people” and have all the rights specifically delegated to the citizenry to protect them from these same corporations. We have a standing army. We have taxation by the federal government to such an extent that the States need assistance from the federal government instead of the other way around, which was the intention of the writers of the Constitution. And as a result, our democracy has been compromised. We do not have a representative government. The United States of America has fallen victim to a new monarchy headquartered in the boardrooms of the largest corporations, in the military-industrial-educational complex, and in the agencies of the federal government which has usurped the life and breath of the nation. We are fighting wars against countries that are of no threat to us, with no direct authorization from Congress, and with no approval from the majority of the citizenry. Will the checks and balances put in place by the founders save us from the treachery within?

The only option left appears to be impeachment of the President and Vice President who insist on proceeding with a war of aggression in Iraq that is destroying everything from our credibility in the world to our young people’s lives to our economy. In so doing they are destroying the basic rights of all citizenry, from our rights to privacy to our right to a fair trial. Meanwhile the White House blocks the rights of elected officials to examine records and has the audacity to pardon criminals convicted of obstructing investigations into White House wrongdoing. All government proceedings and decision making should be transparent and available for public scrutiny, or in cases where secrecy is required, such information should be available to elected officials. This is not the case with the present government and such a situation can not be allowed to continue.

If our democracy is sick, we must impeach George and Dick

These words are startling! The centralized government becomes a seat of intolerable abuses; we had been alarmed, we conducted revolution.
We can no longer model our government upon business. Because enterprise must make money, the business organization is forced to only decentralize carefully, and in a disciplined manner. What motivates our government on the other hand? Why should we give them ANY money without knowing what far flung, or indirect purposes it employs? And what is the correct amount??
"Taxes are a pain(e)." GB, Tx!

With certain contrary indications to a robust economy, what ARE the basic intentions of the Bush Administration, anyway, to disburse our tax money? What happily and safely justifies ANY federal level decentralization? Their current 'investment' in the 'meat' of our post- WWII supply-side or monetary-based economy right now-turns out to be OUR WAR MACHINE! (I feel it may no longer be necessary going forward a.k.a. we can find other ways to be creative and peaceful)For details follow the 'Articles on Democracy' link on Thom's 'Renaissance Thinking about the Issues of our Day' page:

"Democracy Be Damned-Republicans Need Another War"

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