An American Lion

Our Declaration of Independence observes:

“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.”

“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This is boilerplate American history, and something that Americans — and, in particular, America’s political class — have long taken for granted.

But now things are looking a bit dicey. According to a recent Rasmussen Poll , only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed. On the other hand, Rasmussen notes, a full 63 percent of the “political class” believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed.

It’s tempting to stress the disconnect here, and that disconnect is certainly huge. Unsurprisingly, the political class — which talks mostly to itself — thinks that it is far more popular, and legitimate, in the eyes of the country than is in fact the case. In this, as in so many things, America’s political class is out of touch with reality.

But forget the views of America — where, it seems likely, more people believe in alien abductions than in the legitimacy of our rulers — and look just at the more cheerful view of the political class.

Even among the rulers, only 63 percent — triple the fraction of the general populace but still less than two-thirds of the political class — regard the federal government as legitimate by the standards of America’s founding document. The remainder, presumably, are comfortable being tyrants.

“Tyrants?”

That’s a bit much. Today’s tyrant is yesterday’s benevolent ruler. If someone can tell me the difference between Bush and Obama on fighting the war on terror, I’ll give them a medal.

The Constitution works just fine. If there’s any aspect of how we govern ourselves that has gone awry, then it is the corrupting influence of money and the media’s inability to explain how and why that money corrupts the political process. There is no reason for the media to tell the truth about how money makes the process corrupt; it would cost them money to do so. This gives us an uninformed populace that does not vote for their true interests. They end up voting in a popularity contest that is not driven by information.

And, as soon as someone figures out that neither party has any claim on legitimacy, you see the arguments made by the likes of Mr. Reynolds melt away. Unable to acknowledge the fact that conservatives and liberals are simply feeding from the same trough, ignoring hypocrisy becomes the only way to continue functioning. Thinking about these things would expose the childish fantasy of thinking one party is still better than the other party.