"Turning your back" may be the first step. But what are the ones that come after that?
Pleasse do not tell me you (individually) can not make a didderence or bring about change in the two-headed political beast we currently have in front of us. It may take time and energy to see changes at the national level, but two or three can completely turn things around at the local level. Change enough precincts and you change the district. Change enough districts and you change the county/city. (You know the rest of the song, so sing it with me.)
The only ones allowed to whinge are those still actively working on the problem.
stay safe.
MamaCali asked me something along those lines a couple weeks back. It got me to thinking. Here's what I think.
The entire legitimacy of the American Revolution rests on principles given in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Rights. Equality. Consent of the governed. A little illumination of a crucial point: if you and I are equal, then I have no standing to govern or rule you
unless you consent to it.
No government in this country has ever abided by those principles. Equality necessitates consent. Without consent the government--any government--is illegitimate. Consent of the governed is the crucial justification that legitimized the break from England. Well, that didn't apply just to England; it also applies to every government since the break with England. That is to say, if the break from England was legitimate, then the only way successive governments here could maintain legitimacy was to abide the same principles. If they didn't (they didn't) then the immediate state governments were illegitimate
and the creature they made, the federal government, were and are all illegitimate.
Permit me to dwell a moment longer on consent of the governed. The way it is traditionally taught, there is a carefully engineered disconnect between the written principle and practice. "To secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" reads the Declaration. But, its never been used to mean the consent of each and every individual who is being governed. It has always been perverted to mean consent of some of the people. The proof is in the pudding. Can you withdraw your consent and the government leave you alone? Of course not. Government won't allow it. In order to squeeze some faux legitimacy from the principle, they have to pretend that "the people" means less than everybody. They have to pretend that "the people" means society in general, and carefully avoid discussing the individual person. But, the clue to the lie is in the earlier phrase about all men being created equal--that is clearly, unequivocally, unarguably talking about individuals. Individuals are equal. And, if all are equals, none can rule another without his consent. Consent is individual. It must be. It can't be any other way.
So, how do we change things? The simplest, and perhaps fastest and easiest, is to educate people on the points I mentioned above. The Achilles Heel of the generalized consent lie is this: its currently based on the idea that if 51% or more of the governed want something, then its legitimate. Will of the majority. Well, if a majority withdraw their consent, the government is instantly illegitimate
--even by its own lying interpretation of generalized consent.
What we're talking about here is the classic parliamentary vote of no confidence writ large. If a majority of the people in this country, or even in a state, or even in a municipality, were to vote "consent not granted", that government is instantly illegitimate
by their own standards. No insurrection, rebellion, or revolution needed.
What would happen if during a statewide election or federal election if 51% of the voters wrote in "consent withheld"? You wouldn't even need a referendum for this. No special vote. Just write it boldly across the ballot.
In the meantime, get busy figuring out what to erect in its place when the illegitimate government based on a generalized interpretation of consent comes down.
One way to look at this is to say that the American Revolution never quite achieved its ends. It never really achieved government by consent of the governed, not too unlike its failure to achieve equality for the slaves. Now its time to finish the American Revolution.
