Our Declaration of Independence carries a lot of importance as well as gravity, as this was the seminal document, that fifty-six delegates not only so signed, but pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to. So too, this was the raison d’être for those colonists to go to war against the premier power in the world, at that time. This thus signifies that these above words aren’t just words written on a piece of parchment, but that they have an absolute and perpetual significance, and therefore they are part and parcel of what that government, of, for, and by the people, so owes and needs to honor in perpetuity for its citizens.
The basic principle of good governance, is for the people to congregate together, understanding that in order to secure those rights necessary for their continual freedom, good life, and the pursuit of one’s happiness, necessitates in return not only the sacrifice of some of their individual liberty so such is thereby responsibly subsumed into their government, but also that each citizen in order to secure those rights, have incumbent duties that need to be performed on behalf of those rights, collectively and individually.
Regrettably, over an extended period of time, it seems quite clear that government has not only relentlessly whittled away at individual rights, often in the name of security or for the defense of the state, but that the government has more and more become opaque and basically inaccessible and well-nigh unassailable to the average citizen. So that, today’s government, in many respects, is not interested in being as transparent as possible, or even being welcoming to a thorough examination of its day-to-day operations, but wishes instead for the public to just accept that the government has their best interests in mind, and that therefore all that this government does on behalf of its citizenry, is just, fair and equitable.
So then, it is up to the general public, or it could be said its representatives, that the government in its actions and reactions, is always held accountable to being in conformance with the Constitution, but also that what is so being done under the name of the people, is done with that people’s consent. Yet, how many citizens, truly believe that the government, cares for what they have to say or what they think, and further how many of those citizens believe that what the government is so doing is actually really by their consent, directly or indirectly?
It would seem that today’s government, is a force unto itself, and therefore that government sees itself as something separate from the people, with its own peculiar power structure, its own institutions, its own rules, and its own designs; and of which, all that government really asks or wants of its people, is acceptance that this is the way that it ought and should be. If this be true, then what we so have is not the consent of the governed, but rather a construct in which the people are seen as a utility to be exploited, manipulated, and controlled by that government, for the expressed benefit of those that are its actuators.