The Kind of Government We Deserve

When I was a young college kid back in the ‘90s I volunteered to help conduct a political survey within my congressional district. When I arrived at the call center and saw the list of questions I was to ask I had a good chuckle. All the questions were extremely basic, things like, “How long does a US representative serve? Name one of your senators? Who is Al Gore (then vice president of the United States)?” At the time I lived in an area that was rather well-to-do, where the people had a higher than average education level, and the congressional district was listed as one of the most conservative in America. This was going to be a piece of cake.

Four hours later I walked home a changed person. I felt like a deer who had just been caught in the headlights of a Mack truck. Out of all the people I had talked to that night, only one person knew all the answers (and to my at-the-time horror he was a Democrat). Most people couldn’t answer even one of the questions. I felt completely dazed. How could this possibly be?

When our Constitution was written, the Founders were well aware of the fact that they were embarking on an experiment. They understood that in order to maintain a limited government of freedom, the people needed to be virtuous, educated, and vigilant. Did Americans have the right stuff? The Founders didn’t know for sure, but they hoped so. After conducting the survey that night, I knew in my heart we had lost at least two of the vital ingredients. I began to see the writing on the wall for the first time.

More than 2300 years ago Aristotle wrote that the government should fit the character of the people. When Benjamin Franklin was asked what type of government they had formed at the Constitutional Convention, he reportedly answered, “A republic, ma’am, if you can keep it.” Montesquieu and others warned that republics fall when the people become corrupt, lose interest in public affairs, and only look for handouts from the government.

So where does that leave us today? Can we keep a republic when we have lost both our education and vigilance, and the whole virtue thing isn’t looking so hot either? What is the character of the American people? What is my character? What is yours? What kind of government do we deserve? Because whatever the answer is, that’s what we’ll get.