A Government Paper...

So, this is a government paper that I wrote before break...I think it is an alright attempt for my first large paper in my PoliSci 101 class. I got a 19/20 on it---good enough for the girls I go with. Anyway, I don't expect you all to be very interested in it, but I thought it was fun, and I kind of want to use this blog to show off some of my writings from school and other stuff...

Popular Sovereignty in an American Context

Popular Sovereignty is a term that is used to describe the ideal that in a democracy the power to govern lies in the hands of the people. This term is only partially accurate when applied to the American System. In most aspects, the power that lies in the hands of the people in the American system is the power to choose who it is that governs them. The people have the power to elect representatives, but the very nature of the representative system is one that limits the power of the people. The system is designed to limit the power of the people just as it is designed to limit the power of the Legislative or Executive branches. There are many different elite bodies that operate within the system and their conflict as well as the limited influence of the people and other constitutional protections keep any of these bodies from gaining despotic power.

There are many problems with the people ruling in America. America is a big place. There are many different individuals of many different beliefs and viewpoints that are part of the mass that is considered the people. All of these people are to some degree self-interested. This menagerie of interests and the massive amount of people in the nation makes it impossible for the people to “rule”. This was true when the framers were building the constitution, which is one reason why the framers put so much emphasis on representation, and it is even truer now. One of the major points of Federalist 51 is that the constitution was created so that there could be some majority influence, but also so that the minority would not be abused. One of the problems with majority-based mechanisms in government is that they don’t do a good job of respecting minorities. For the minority to be protected those that are in power need to be somewhat removed from popular rule.

Another of the problems of complete “popular sovereignty” is that more often than not it will disintegrate into Mob-ocracy. This can be seen historically in the situation that evolved in Missouri over slavery. Because it is impractical (and nearly impossible) for the all of the people to rule, they are forced to choose people that they feel are qualified to govern them. The way that these rulers come to power means that they are, by necessity, part of an elite body. They must have a certain amount of fame or money (or enough money that they can buy fame). They can climb their way to the top of a great corporation, or build a political following, or become leaders in their fields, any of these avenues can bring them to power within the American system and any one of these avenues establishes the individual no longer as a rank and file American, but as an elite. Elitism is a necessary truth in American government.

In America the people choose their ruling elites in a couple of different ways. The most obvious is with the vote. Americans gather at regular intervals to choose whom it is who will be exercising power in the legislative and executive (as the electoral college has become much less relevant) branches of the government. Also, in a less direct manner they are choosing who might gain power in the Supreme Court (specifically in presidential election years). If there is an opening in the Supreme Court it is the President’s constitutionally derived power to appoint a new justice and the Senate’s power to approve or disapprove the appointed (the death of a Supreme Court Justice is a major fear of many Republicans now that Barrack Obama has been elected). Through the people’s authorization of a president and congress to exercise power the same authorization is offered to the court. This principle extends to other appointed offices, such as cabinet members. These are a couple of the ways that Americans legitimize and justify their rulers.

Other ruling elites are chosen differently. In the capitalist society that is America the capitalist elite is one of the most prevalent types of elite. This body has armies of lobbyists to influence the political elite and money enough to cause real results. The people’s and the government’s allowance (and often their investment in or purchasing power) are what allow this body to arise. The Capitalist Elite is very similar to what Marx calls the Bourgeois. They have enormous power and are interested in increasing that power, often at the expense of the general population. Marx predicts that eventually the Bourgeois will go too far and the people (proletariat) will be so fed up and the socio-economic gap between the two will be so great that the proletariat will be compelled participate in a bloody, bloody revolution to change the status quo.

The thing that the Marx does not account for (at least when it is applied to the American System) is that even though industry has a lot of influence on government, government is still forced to pay enough attention to the people to keep the people happy and re-authorizing it. Also he fails to see that the Political Elite and the Capitalist Elite are not always the same and therefore are competing against each other for power. Because the government has to pay at least some attention to the needs of the people in order to keep legitimacy they cannot bend entirely to the will of the Capitalist Elite. This is why, over a lot of time after the industrial revolution, certain regulatory laws have been placed on industry and commerce. Many of these regulations came in the wake of the Great Depression, a period of time in which government realized that it needed to protect the natural rights of the people more fully. As a result of this realization limits on speculation, new labor laws, and new financial policy were established to greater protect the people’s rights to life, liberty and happiness. This also pacified people so they wouldn’t rebel (in the soft or bloody, bloody way---F. D. Roosevelt was president for a very long time partially for this reason), as they would if they felt that the government could not fulfill its contractual duties. It is in ways like these that the people, the political elites and the many other types of elites balance each other.

Popular Sovereignty is only relevant in America to a small extent. This is both by design and by evolution. Elitist influence is necessary and inevitable. The popular aspects and the elite aspects of American Society are in constant conflict and therefore able to balance each other out. Too much power in the hands of the people or in the hands of one of the various elite bodies is dangerous. Hopefully (and almost always, if vigilance is practiced) the balance is as protective of the natural rights of the people as is possible.