The closest I'll come to waxing patriotic.
I'm not a policy wonk. I'm much more comfortable talking about public opinion, horserace politics, campaigning, elections, etc. The Fourth of July, with its focus on the documents of our founding, allows me to explain why I think this is arguably the most important part of politics. Everyone knows this part of the Declaration:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Everyone knows that part. Ask someone to recite the Declaration, they'll probably get exactly that far before they start mumbling and throw a "home of the Brave" in for good measure. But my favorite part is what comes next:
"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Yep, the good old "consent of the governed" - the double edged sword of Damocles that hangs over the head of everyone who's taken an oath of office at any level. It's really the lynchpin to everything we discuss. You CAN pass legislation without it, making the argument that the realities of the public good outweigh public opinion - Barack Obama did it with health care, the Republicans in the House did it with Ryancare, and the governor of Florida has probably done it three times since I started writing this sentence.
But you do so at your own risk, and the reason is that every other November, the governed get to give their consent. It's an inevitability. In fact, it's a constant. Elections have become full-time now, with candidates and surrogates in "campaign mode" more or less from the time they wake up in the morning until the time they go to sleep the following morning. We are constantly weighing and measuring our government. When we find it wanting, we replace it. I can't help but laugh when I hear people complain we've become an "authoritarian regime" when we essentially live our lives in the midst of one, big, perpetual election.
So yes, you can eschew the consent of the governed, but you do it at your own peril. Next fall, people will decide whether the president kept his commitment or not. They'll decide whether the consent they gave the Republicans in 2008 was used properly or not.
But regardless of what we decide, WE still get to decide it. I wish more people would keep that in mind when they make accusations that some kind of usurpation of power has taken place.
Republicans control the House for no other reason than voters gave them consent to do so in 2010. It's no fluke - voters have given Republicans control of the House for 7 of the last 9 Congresses. Likewise, Barack Obama is president of the United States because voters gave HIM their consent in 2008. In fact, Democrats have received more votes for President in every election but one since 1988.
THIS is why we have the government we do. Not because of shenanigans, not because of ACORN, not because of scare tactics, but because that's how we, as a nation, voted.
Policy arguments are important. I'm glad to see people engaging in them. But at the end of the day, your ideas are as good as your ability to sell them to the people you govern. We're a fickle bunch. But while I maintain a lot of what was written 200 years ago should be subject to review as we continue to grow as a people, the whole "consent of the governed" part hasn't changed, despite protestations of both sides to the contrary.
See, for every charge that Scott Walker is a tyrant, or Barack Obama is a despot, there's the cold, hard, truth that majorities of citizens VOTED for that person. Consent of the governed, unarguably, and demonstrably, remains a part of our political life. It remains that way regardless of whether we like the way that consent is used. It's why it is important to understand what the country believes, and why the salesmanship of ideas is as important as the ideas themselves. Until that changes, we don't need to ask for our country back - it's ours, warts and all.