mystoryorhistory

A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained.–James Madison

It is an oft told story about Benjamin Franklin that after signing the Constitution being met by Elizabeth Willing Powel who asked the good doctor “what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” To which Franklin replied, “A Republic madam, if you can keep it.”

According to Historynet.com “By upbringing, experience, and nature, Eliza Powel was politically astute and acquainted with the leading lights of the American political scene.” Like many Americans in Philadelphia at the time, It is not hard to imagine her waiting at the steps of Independence Hall anticipating the results of the secret meetings that took place that long hot summer.

Eliza Powell is one of the many women who have been pushed aside as a footnote in the pages of history. According to Historynet.com she was a Philadelphia socialite, ” a fixture in her hometown’s most influential circles, and a proto-feminist who delighted in her intellect, broad range of interests, and social rank…” with “a first-class mind, and, unusual among women of her class and era, a serious interest in and engagement with the details and nuances of politics and statecraft.”

I would bet that when addressing Eliza after signing the Constitution, Franklin was not speaking specifically to her when he used the word “you.” The 81 year-old Franklin would only have two more years to live. So the “you” was sort of a collective second-person pronoun referring to a group of people, Americans from 1787 to the present, rather than one person at the time, and a disfranchised woman at that.

Franklin had his concerns about the Constitution. In final remarks before approving the Convention’s work. He said, “I agree to this Constitution, with all its Faults, if they are such: because I think a General Government necessary for us, and there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administered.” The key words in his comments, like, “you” is “well administered.”

A big fear today among many is the fear of losing our democracy. Various polls in the last couple years show an increasing fear that our democracy is under pressure, mostly from the extreme ends of the political spectrum and their hardcore entrenched views. But it not really our democracy that is under threat. We will always be a country with a democratic foundation. What we are witnessing of late is democracy manipulating the republic’s foundation for political belief or factions as the framers of the Constitution called them.

In this famous Federalist Paper (51) essay, Madison explained how the Constitution’s structure checked the powers of the elected branches and protected against possible abuses by the national government. With the separation of powers, the Framers divided the powers of the national government into three separate branches: a legislative branch (called Congress), an executive branch (led by a single President), and a judicial branch (headed by a Supreme Court). By dividing political power between the branches, the Framers sought to prevent any single branch of government from becoming too powerful. At the same time, each branch of government was also given the power to check the other two branches. This is the principle of checks and balances. Madison and his fellow Framers assumed that human nature was imperfect and that all political elites would seek to secure greater political power. As a result, the Framers concluded that the best way to control the national government was to harness the political ambitions of each branch and use them to check the ambitions of the other branches.–National Constitutional Center.gov

For instance a lot of debate during the Constitutional Convention centered on the make up and function of the Legislative Branch of the proposed new government. Some delegates were in favor of a unicameral others a bicameral Congress. (The Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation was unicameral.) The real problem today with Congress is it is still bicameral but completely divided along factions, with political parties providing the checks and balances in a unicameral way. Yes it is representative democracy at work. But, it is a complete disfunction of legislative design. Congress cannot even do its most essential task: pass a budget.

The House of Representatives is the people’s House. Its elected officials, because of their two-year elected-terms and smaller districts, are closer to the wishes of the people than a Senator with a six-year term representing an entire state. Madison’s belief, explained in Federalist Paper 62, was that “No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence first of a majority of the people (the House), and then of a majority of the states (the Senate).” The entrenched two-party system has done away with that concept.

He further explains that the Senate “as a second branch of the legislative assembly, distinct from, and dividing the power with (the House), a first, must be in all cases a salutary check on the government. It doubles the security to the people, by requiring the concurrence of two distinct bodies.” An impossible feat under today’s government.

Additionally, he writes that “The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies, to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders, into intemperate and pernicious resolutions.” (my italics) Does January 6th come to mind. On January 6th the Republic held firm against the democracy, or mobocracy, taking place on the Capitol steps and then within the Capitol itself.

There is, in my mind, no chance of losing our democracy. Later this year we all go to the polls and vote. The real problem in my mind, is how those administering our Republic will try to rig the democratic process. We have witnessed states gerrymandering legislative districts to favor one party. We have seen the courts upturn the gerrymandering process in one state but not another. We have seen the courts roll back voting rights. We have seen an Executive branch try to impose voting changes through executive orders. All of this is democracy but as Franklin said, it is a republic–if we can keep it.