Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are guaranteed by our constitution. The usurping of these rights to further the cause of Empire is antithetical to innate government responsibilities.

The Declaration of Independence

"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. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Very powerful words, and particularly poignant today. For while our lawmakers derive their power from "the governed," they are beholden only to corporate interests. This trend has become so blatant that it has become the norm, but it has no place in healthy civil society.

There are various campaigns underway to get our democracy back, from Clean Elections in Arizona and Maine to Election Reform initiatives here in Ohio. And of course such efforts are thwarted by many in power and ignored by major media outlets. For such efforts to be nationally and globally supported, grassroots activism is required. If this isn't a participatory democracy, it won't be a democracy at all.

The Role of Government

Going back to Neanderthal roots, we have to presume government rose from family and clan units, where the oldest, sagest or most powerful assumed authority. From what we know, the next iteration was to have two authorities, a political leader and a spiritual one. And one imagines there were gray areas and stuggles over control.

Fast forward a bit, and we see the tussles between chief and shaman evolve to classes betweeen church and state. The Roman Empire is often described as "holy," and Europe's "Dark Ages" highlighted church dominance over the political landscape.

With the Magna Carta and French and American Revolutions, The West began to discern that government could not do its presumed job of aiding and protecting the citizenry if zeolots or other religious leaders had too much influence. Hence, our US constitution has very clear distinctions on what's appropriate religious expression and what is not. Religious freedom was declared an inalienable human right.

The Corporate State

The other dynamic in the rise of government was the growing influence of commerce. While less documented than the role of religion, it's apparent that creating empire required money, and commercial interests must have occupied a substantial role in creating political power.

Once we're in the Age of Colonialism (World 3.x), it's clear that government and industry are strongly aligned. Much of the success of the Constitinian Empire was based on being the terminus for the silk road, with the bounty of silk and spices to sell to the west. The Dutch East India Company was little more than a front for Dutch government interests.

Such bonds were only strengthened in the Industrial Age, until we find ourselves in the present predicament.

The Role of Government Today

Now that many of us are taking a big-picture look at the state of our planet, it's becoming apparent that government must be redefined, and more clearly understood. There are several critical aspects to this, and there's information all over the web (including World 5.0), but here's a few keys.

1) The fundamental role of government is to balance community and commercial interests. Both are vital. But as we're learning today, unbridled support for corporate interests is decimating community health, civil society and the environment. We must remake government to fulfill this obligation.

2) "Protecting" ourselves from terrorists or other boogymen is a modality thatno longer works. "Terrorism" can only be addressed by addressing its root causes - poverty, extremism, righteousness and ignorance. If we truly want protection, we support our government in efforts to spread abundance, moderation, diversity and knowledge.

3) Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are guarenteed by our constitution. The usurping of these rights to further the cause of Empire is antithetical to innate government responsibilities. Again, it is through promoting abundance, moderation, diversity and knowledge that government honors its obligations.

The World Fiver Public Servant

The government, on all levels, employs a tremendous number of people, nearly one-third of our work force. Inspectors and administrators, Postal workers and customer service agents, they work for us. The current beaurocracy model is inefficient and corrupt, likely mirroring Washington. And yet what marvelous transformations could take place, regardless of elected officials, if our governmental work force was full of passionate, caring, hard-working individuals that served our communities. These workers aren't bad, but the culture they work rotted and dysfuntional.

Of course, if that's bad, how about our elected officials? In the current climate, it's difficult to be elected without huge sums of money. That means you're already wealthy or will be beholden to wealthy doners by the time you're elected. Not a good system for the citizenry.

Worse, our government is now so brazen in its disregard for the citizenry and the law, that they routinely lie, hide the truth, distract fron the issue, mismanage assets and reward co-corrupters. (George Tenat gets the Medal of Freedom for the bad intelligence that allowed the Attack on Iraq?) The Valerie Wilson "Plamegate" situation involves a high level administration officieal committing treason for political revenge. (This is pretty straightforward, though the typical smokescreens are being tossed about.) And this is the rule, not the exception under this regime. I do not resent and resist this administration for its "conservative" leanings, I resent and resist this administration for its utter lack of integrity, justice and balance.

_________________________________________________________ RESOURCES
Public Campaign
Journalists for Open Government
Culture of Corruption
Open Democracy
Center for Digital Governement
E-Government Initiative
Transparent Government
PIRG Democracy Program
Wiki - Open Source Government

~ more links ~

GOVERNMENT

Topic Areas

Progressive News