"We the people..."

This story is merely a snapshot into the heart of the American people and indicates a much greater issue facing the American people. The problem we face is not that we have lost trust in the government, but the fact that we, as a people, have allowed ourselves to become detached from the government and view it as a separate entity that is supposed to run the country and solve our problems.

The first three words of the Constitution of the United States, our supreme law of the land, are these: “We the people.” We are the government. We forget that if our elected officials are doing an inadequate job, then we have the right and duty to replace them. A further indication is the way the numbers of the polls fall, in that individuals who identify them selves as Republicans trust the government even less than the average than do the Democrats, which falls to the core beliefs of both parties.

 

As I become more educated on these topics, I'm feeling like the true Republican mindset is to put more responsibility on the individual and less to the government, while with the Democrat side is more of the mentality that it is the responsibility of the state to resolve issues, whether they be international, local or even down to the household level.

                 

Our society has been distracted by career politicians who have one job from the time they are sworn, and that is to get re-elected by saying anything they can to get one more vote. According to our course textbook, the early chapters seem to portray the founding Fathers and the original members of Congress as businessmen who took their duty as almost a sacred calling to represent their constituents to our national government in a manner that would most benefit the people who sent them there. The Congress would meet, complete their business, and these men would go back to their home districts to face the people that sent them to Washington and they would have to answer for their actions and be replaced if necessary.

 

There was a time when the phrase “elected official” carried respect and a sense of honor. Now, it has been replaced with “career politician” which brings sneers of contempt at individuals who rarely even see their own districts except in election years.

           

If there is so little trust in government, then whom do we have to blame but ourselves? Are not the individuals in Washington merely a reflection of the American people?