That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the People, that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.
George Mason
June 12, 1776
Virginia Declaration of Rights
[The U.S. Constitution was heavily influenced by the Virginia Constitution. Remember, James Madison, the main architect of the U.S. Constitution was from Virginia. And Mason had his share of input to the Constitution as well.
The entire political philosophy of our country is based on government deriving it’s powers from the consent of the people. Hence I always find it a little irritating when someone refers to a politician as a ‘leader’ when they are actually servants.
It is more than a little irritating when the servants tell the People they are the only ones allowed to own and carry certain types of personal weapons.
And when the servants use the People’s credit to run up a massive debt giving money to people and organizations which they had no constitutional authority to give it it too it’s time to fire them and perhaps prosecute them.—Joe]
I think maybe you mean Jefferson. Adams was from Massachusetts.
I meant Madison, not Adams. And it was called the “Virginia Plan”.
Thanks for catching that.
I’d hate to take on an intellect of the caliber of Mason, but clearly his statement depends on a fantastic model of human behavior where public opinion is monolithic. The reality is that the people divide themselves politically on account of their inherent tribal nature, and each of the groups demands the state be hostile to other, politically disagreeable groups. The net result is that the state serves everyone by being amendable to no one.
Disconnecting people from the consequences of the cost of government–by removing the apportionment requirement from capitation taxes, for example–has created generations of people who are profoundly ignorant of the economics because there is no negative feedback from which they may gather experience. Unfortunately, that negative feedback will come all at once, in the form of a collapse. Since they lack wisdom, they will be unable to ascertain the cause, and therefore unable to make meaningful corrections.