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Our founding fathers created key structures to lay the foundation for our democracy: in particular, a system of checks and balances that limited the power of any one person or any one group. As Al Gore recently said about our founding fathers:
"They feared the abuse of power because they understood that every human being has not only 'better angels' in his nature, but also an innate vulnerability to temptation - especially the temptation to abuse power over others.
Our founders understood full well that a system of checks and balances is needed in our constitution because every human being lives with an internal system of checks and balances that cannot be relied upon to produce virtue if they are allowed to attain an unhealthy degree of power over their fellow citizens."
Al Gore, Speech before MoveOn, May 26, 2004
In order to check the problem of too much power in the hands of a few, they first devised three branches of government (legislative, executive and judicial) that were co-equals and they broke the legislative branch into two houses, one to be more deliberative and the other that would more closely reflect the immediate needs and concerns of their constituents. They created a Bill of Rights to protect against the tyranny of mob rule, because they knew that sometimes the passions of the period could override the rights of the individual. They also enshrined the concept of freedom of the press in the constitution because they knew that the best defense against overweening corruption was a vibrant press that examined the workings of those in government. Furthermore, they provided mechanisms to remove people from power when they were corrupt or incapable of performing their role. Each one of these entities worked to check the others until the power of money and greed created a system that was mutually reinforcing and corrupting. Today our politicians are beholding to the moneyed interests, the judiciary is selected by the politicians and our so-called free press has become the tool of their corporate owners.
Philip Slater had a number of recommendations on how to strengthen our democracy: demilitarizing our society as an overly militaristic society tends to want to use violence to solve problems rather than looking for more creative solutions, containing greed so that the wealth of the few will not diminish the well-being of the many, promoting a more inclusive and egalitarian society, providing a future for all citizens of our society, freeing our imaginations so we can find and devise better outcomes for the problems that challenge us and opening communication so everyone can participate.
He recommends starting with the issue or area which captures your concern or imagination. For example, if you are concerned about schools, work with others to come up with ways to improve your local schools and perhaps run for the school board. If you are worried that the media is not spending enough time reporting on how are government is working, write letters to the editor, support independent media and work with others to let the owners of the media know you are looking for more from them. Work to bring public financing to elections so as to limit the influence money has on our politics. There are lots of ways to get involved - so pick your favorite topic or hobbyhorse to pursue.
Reclaiming our democracy will not be easy. We need lots of good and creative ideas to make this work and those ideas have to come from all sides. Ideas that have no competition become stale and flabby. Ideas must live in an environment where they are challenged and forged through rigorous debate in order to have maximum value to our society. From these ideas and the belief we are in this together, we can find real solutions to our daunting problems.
We all have a responsibility to build the world in which we want to live. A world that we leave a bit better for having been part of and one that leaves a positive legacy for those that follow our steps. And we owe it to ourselves to make the best of this great national experiment in self-governance.
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