Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address used an inaccurate concluding phrase about a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. He would have been more technically correct had he phrased about a government of two peoples, by two peoples, and for two peoples. One of those two peoples sends their rep to a state government. The other of those two peoples sends their rep to the national government. Strangely, those two peoples are the same politically bi-polar, schizophrenic person, required to send two reps instead of the one that could have done the job.
This unfortunate electorate was organized in 1789 as a double electorate having two separate personalities. We have been forced to act schizophrenically for over two centuries. We are actually organized as two bodies politic, when we should have been organized as one body politic. What the voter has in mind in choosing a state rep is quite different from what the voter is thinking in the choice of a national rep. The partisan appeals of the two campaigns are from different perspectives. The so-called cultural divide can be seen by looking in the mirror.
We are like the farmer walking by his field of newly mown hay and hoping the rains wait until it cures. Then continue walking along his corn field hoping it rains before the leaves curl.
Whenever state governments see fit to reorganize us as one body politic whose rep sits in both places, we will no longer act schizophrenically.
No comments:
Post a Comment