Lawrence Diggs: People should decide who runs the country

The bedrock value of the American culture and country has been the idea that the people should be the government. The people should decide who should run the country and how the country should be run.

It may be vigorously argued whether we have lived up to those values and ideals. Clearly there have been many people in our country who were denied the pursuit of the American dream. If you did not learn about that in your American history classes, then you were deprived of a useful education. My condolences.

Some would argue that the “founding fathers” did not mean for this to be a democracy where everyone had an equal vote. They often cite some of the founding fathers’ opposition to that idea. But I note that these people conveniently leave out the ideas of people like Thomas Paine, one of the most important founding fathers. If you did not study Thomas Paine as much as you studied Jefferson and Madison, you received a substandard education. Again, my condolences.

While some of the founding fathers wanted to establish a new “American aristocracy”, I would submit that we would not have won freedom from the British had it not been from the vision painted by Thomas Paine. The argument that Paine is the real Father of the American Revolution can be strongly supported because his writings spurred the American people's hunger for and vision of freedom from the tyranny of aristocracy. I dare say the vision of a new type of government free of domination by aristocrats painted by Paine rallied the American people to help George Washington when it appears he was about to lose the revolution.

While many like to refer to the words and visions of the founding fathers, I look to the real heroes of the revolution, the American people, for inspiration. It is their desire for freedom that won our freedom. It is their sacrifices that made our liberty possible. It is their struggle that gave us the chance to make a more perfect union.

That is why I strongly oppose any attempt to turn this into a mercantile feudal state where corporations and their stooge politicians rob us of economic, religious and political freedom. We are witnessing such an attempt in the efforts to overthrow elections. We are experiencing it in the gerrymandering of elections to reduce the power of our votes in favor of party hacks. We are seeing it in the purchase of politicians by business interests, like weapons manufacturers who put their profits above our lives.

If we are to regain and keep our power, we must make some major changes. Most importantly, we must not allow ourselves to be manipulated into fighting each other. Most of us have a lot more in common with homeless people than billionaires. We need to start acting and voting like it.

Most currently in this state, we can’t allow our legislature to rob us of our right to make laws by ballot.

Lawrence Diggs, Roslyn, is an author and professional public speaker. Write him at americannews@aberdeennews.com.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Lawrence Diggs column people should decide who runs the country