When America
was being formed and the wise men of that time got together they designed a
system of governance where the people appointed men (yeah only men) to get
together to make and alter the rules of society and the common good. Part of
the idea was that every (qualified) citizen would and should at one time or
another do his civic duty and become one of those appointed representatives.
The process
was one where each adult male of European descent would cast his one vote to
decide which candidate or other would best represent their region of the
Republic. After those early successful years everything went haywire. (Note:
when one mis-handles a coil of baling wire it can energetically become an
un-mitigatable tangle of surprising complexity. Mostly you just toss it out and
go get another coil of haywire. Hence the name.)
In more
recent decades, the elected representatives have become lifers in the comfort
of their positions. Not only have they voted themselves great annual salaries,
incredible fringe benefits and time off to ostensibly go home to their
constituents and local office and continue the job for which they were
appointed. Along the way they discovered that they knew what was coming in the
way of regulations (or the removal thereof) and could profit from that
knowledge. They developed the mindset they could write legislation which
impacted the Everyman while exempting themselves and granting special
privileges.
All of them
are the equivalent of being the hired help of We The People except that they
have taken over. The constituents used to tell their representative what they
wanted them to do, what they wanted and needed, how to protect them from the
reversal of fortunes in the weather, the economy, the relationship with
neighbors and neighboring nations. Where that used to be the way, now the
representatives tell the people what they are allowed to have. Representatives used to represent all of their
constituents. Now they have developed the idea they at best represent only the
citizens who voted FOR them. They have reached a place where non-citizens
residents and voters who voted for another candidate do not matter and actually
should be denied representation.
In light of
the more recent shift in parliamentary procedure and Citizen United (a highly misleading
nomenclature) they have come to represent only moneyed interests who pay them
to vote for legislation as written by other paid interests. If those interests
were promoting laws and permissions that benefitted human constituents, it
would not be such a bad thing, but the moneyed interests are always buying
permissions and prohibitions which benefit their business model and
bottom-line.
With the
reversal of employer-employee relationships, it is as though the Inmates
Have Taken Over the Asylum. The totally delusional patients have
assumed the roles of Institutional Director, Head Nurse, Strong-arm Orderlies, Groundskeepers,
etc. while the former staff are kept locked up in the basement along with the
weak and feeble-minded patients who did not have a place in the New
Administration.
There are
genuinely earnest inmates who believe the new Administration is legitimate and
will say and do everything they are asked to do. There are many inmates who are
too scared to resist. They kowtow to the Authority of a Nurse Ratched knowing
she will prevail by hook and crook.
Somewhere
along the line, a tipping point was reached in the administration of governance
where the hired help (Representatives and Senators) took over and now run the
operation as THEY see fit. In many cases they have created their personal
fiefdoms and command the loyalties of a sufficient number of constituents to
negate the influence of the majority. That majority must resist and fight back
or allow the consolidation of power by the Inmates
who took over.
