Can We Get It Back?

Can We Get It Back?

Benjamin Franklin, ever the optimist even at the age of 81, gave what was for him a remarkably restrained assessment in his final speech before the Constitutional Convention: "…when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views." He thought it impossible to expect a "perfect production" from such a gathering, but he believed that the Constitution they had just drafted, "with all its faults," was better than any alternative that was likely to emerge.

There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: "A republic, if you can keep it." The brevity of that response should not cause us to under-value its essential meaning: democratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people; they are also absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health.

In these two stories about Franklin there is a pragmatic realism that in his years was wisdom for us all, if we had the sense enough to grasp it. Unfortunately, and although this has always been the case, I believe the situation over the last sixty years or so has been exacerbated for the “common folk” who would be expected to participate in a democracy on what might be called an “informed” level or to make “educated” decisions regarding issues. I separate “educated” from “indoctrinated” assessments, educated implying an unbiased access to information upon which to reach reasoned conclusions. To be sure that is much of the purpose for a “republic” rather than a direct democracy. The assumption being our elected representatives would have that information and wisdom to handle the task with our interests in mind.

Yet even as we elect representatives we are at the mercy of ambitious, usually well educated, and too often self serving politicians adept in playing the “con” to get their way and our vote. As complex as many issues have become your average high school graduate simply is not prepared to tackle these, and thus can be relatively easily manipulated. Even college graduates though exiting with a higher level of knowledge, that knowledge is seldom refined to any degree and usually of some specialized nature. I do not write from any sense of expertise here, only personal observation. Add to this the progressive reliance on the television for most of the information that is disseminated within society and the corporate dominance of this and the print and entertainment industries, and further complicated by the sound bite attention spans catered to on the Internet, - the general populace – even though the information is there and available (at least for now) the general populace is not educated enough or willing to educate themselves to be able to participate in a “democracy” with what can be considered a sufficient educated informed knowledge. I am not saying they are “stupid”. Nor am I saying they lack “common sense”. But common sense can be manipulated if all you are getting is partial truths, or you lack the skills and in many cases “interest” to do the work of becoming informed.

This uninformed condition is not something that exists within the “corporatized” system. They know exactly what they are doing and have specific goals. As long as the general populace chooses to simply get by in a “business as usual” modes operandi, the system will not work in the interest of the common man.

So in a sense, yet having a democratic republic – "A republic, if you can keep it." – we have lost it.

The question I continually wrestle with is, “Can we get it back?”