Democracy is the Answer

The character of political philosophy takes delight in ingenuity and order. Most political philosophy is codified before or slightly after its marginal application is seen as fitting to the historical period in which it operates. I say 'most' because the nation we stand on is a significant exception. The founding fathers of America knew this well, as American constitutionalism had its treatise in the Constitution itself. Pamphlets by the enlightened Paine and works of the electrified Franklin were but a semblance of the great ideals that form a proper Government. The protection of unalienable rights, representation of the people’s will through democracy, and the compelling of the people to be good by some divine measure are a small part of the enormous set of responsibilities the Government assumes. Following the Constitution itself, the claim of the separation of Powers is viscerally entailed, such that regulation of State affairs within the Nation is completed without the infringement of individual liberties for the American populace. Certainly, much of what has just been covered is the bare surface of American polity. However, the focus of this blog post will be to understand why this claim is substantive.

Published on July 4th, 1776, a date seared in the mind of every modern American, the Declaration of Independence was set at the behest of the British crown. Calling for the division between the former British colonies and the British monarchy, the essence of the need for American constitutionalism was born, though its principles were not yet enacted or formalized. These first marks of the system that the American founding fathers had in mind came from the grievances of an unchecked government with seemingly absolute restriction of the liberties of the people. As follows, the adoption of the 'checks and balances' proposed by Enlightenment philosopher Baron de Montesquieu resonated with the first revolutionaries in the fourteen years that led up to the full ratification of the Constitution by May 26, 1790. Significantly so, his ideas were one set of many philosophical contingencies that set our nation into motion, with another being the Lockean ideal of relations between the State and the people, a 'social contract' of sorts. Demonstrable to this end are the guarantees of the Preamble to the Constitution which bear the following:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

• Preamble of the Constitution of the U.S.

With this very brief summation of our nation's beginnings, we can see the significance political philosophy had in the creation of the American State. You see the toil that the American founding fathers went through to delight in our liberty, and it came with acknowledging pivotal truths that cannot be neglected as long as one lives on this soil to be called a citizen. With this, I implore you, the reader, to look into your local, state, and federal government. I encourage you to be educated with civic diligence, to go and vote.