Government by the People: Is It Possible?

The Gettysburg Address celebrated the ideals of the Enlightenment: equality for all, and liberation from the yoke of tyrannical rulers

• Since 1863, the slogan has been "government of the people"
• It has been a roaring success as a slogan
• However, in recent times, government has been for the people only in name

But we have elections!

• Modern representative democracy is akin to an aristocratic marketing exercise, wherein clubs of important people specialise in how to get others to give them more power
• Politicians today go to great lengths to forge coalitions with the media and with wealthy individuals who can buy them airtime there
• A class of elite professional persuaders has risen to the top of our "democratic" systems
• The system does not reward the ability to lead or to put the needs of the people first, but the abilityto persuade others

Power (back) to the People!

• To escape this trap, populations need hope. To have hope, one needs a plan and a slogan.
• Two complementary reforms aim to reintegrate the presently governed masses into the business of power
• The most important duty that the public must reclaim is that of appointing its leaders
• Elections of politicians are not enough when the modern state apparatus contains hundreds of top bureaucratic posts associated with significant authority to wield the power of the people via large-scale resource allocation decisions
• A method of mobilising and organizing the population to judge others that worked reasonably well in Ancient Rome and Greece, and is ubiquitous today in courts of law: juries of citizens

https://brownstone.org/articles/government-by-the-people-is-it-possible/