Why did it take 226 years — to see that Brutus' "prophecy" came into full effect last week, in such a way that rational people who love their country could (finally) notice and credit Brutus' just concerns?
Great question, Jacquerie. I don't know how to answer it.
But I do suspect that part of the problem can be explained by (1) a general ignorance of the concept of popular sovereignty, so clearly presented in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. (2) The general propensity of most Americans to "trust" their government. (3) The distractions of quotidian life, whereby people are more concerned about things that affect them most directly in daily existence, than by "abstractions" that are irrelevant to such immediate concerns.
Today, your average American is very probably unaware of the central fact of the U.S. Constitution: That the people — We the People, as the Preamable puts it — constitute the sovereign power in this country. There is no higher authority in our constitutional system than the People. And our constitutional system is predicated on "the consent of the governed."
The People of the Preamble are "sovereign," in the sense that there is no higher authority, other than God Himself, to whose rule they are subject, at whose "throne" they must kneel.
The Constitution is a compact, or contract, between the People and the government which they establish, for the "benefit of ourselves and our posterity," who have delegated certain limited, enumerated powers to that government, in the relation of a principal giving instructions to his agent.
In such a relation, it is the positive duty of the principal to bring his agent to heel, if that agent is exceeding his mandate, or is performing his duties poorly.
Thank God for Article V!!! The Framers expressly intended it as a means for the People to bring their government to heel, to correct, check, reverse any transgression it may commit against the Will of the People, who above all intended to create a system of government that mandates its agent to be exclusively concerned with the preservation and maintenance of the Liberties of its principal, to protect the People from usurpations of its sovereign power by unfaithful agents.
In short, the Framers really did expect, require, the active participation of the People to ensure that the constitutional charter would not be subverted against their liberty interests, and their desire for equal justice under law.
Few people today, or perhaps ever in our history, have the historical memory of a Brutus. He evidently knew that the glorious Republic of Athens imploded, due to systemic corruption; and thus became a slave of Macedon. He knew that the Roman Republic destroyed itself due to unrestrained imperial ambition, extending Roman territory to such an extent that it became practically ungovernable. (Not to mention the famous corruptions of specific emperors.)
He was also apparently a keen student of human nature and human psychology. Thus I gather, he was not unfamiliar with Plato and Aristotle....
I suspect most Americans don't much care about such concerns. As already mentioned, they just expect their government to do the right thing, and never bother to check whether this is actually the case.
Seems to me like it's time, even past time, for We the People to step up to the plate and restore the constitutional order of our beloved country. It's time for an Article V Convention of the States.
Failing the restoration of constitutional order, the only thing we can expect is that a call to arms, is the only other solution.
Some people actually look forward to this sort of denouement. I am not one of them. But if we are left with this as a last resort, then God's Will be done.
I pray that He will continue to bless the people of the United States of America.
Thanks, Jacquerie, ever so much for writing.
<>Thanks, Jacquerie, ever so much for writing.<>
And the same back to you.