Opinion:
Americans, after five presidential elections, two global economic recessions, and one global pandemic, should find it troubling that our nation still finds itself in a state of war, in a state of unequal economic growth, in a state of infrastructural decay, and in a state of political factionalism. In the spirit of older American political traditions, if we are to reconstitute comity back into our political system, I would argue that what we need is to install the virtues of popular opinion as a check against the abuses of power committed by a corrupted government. For the backbone of popular government is based in a body politic which watches the government with a critical eye. Without consent and accountability our nation’s government cannot tackle the problems of the 21st century. We should not view our public officials with such reverence, but a modest degree of refusal to accept their very utterance as fact would serve us well, so we can reinstitute the virtues on which popular government was founded.
The republican principle stipulates, said the 39th Federalist, that our government “derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people,” and that these powers be administered by persons, acting on good faith and adherence to the law, representing the body politic. The republican character of government, in other words, is one in which power originates from the residuals of popular sovereignty, and the operation of powers within the separate branches of government can be popularly enhanced or reduced.
Though power is exercised mostly on the institutional level, the people bear their own check on illegitimate excursions of power performed by the government. Public opinion, after procuring more value since the information revolution of the early-20th century, has transformed into a powerful public institution with which American people can ensure democratic accountability in a government composed of republican principles. For there are a variety of tools which enhance democratic accountability, but their reach is often restricted to temporal conditions, such as elections and representation. What we find in public opinion is an incessant body of opinions, injected into the public consciousness daily, which can directly affect the administration of affairs. Though it may be uniformed, restricted in thought, plainly uneducated on the subject matter, or blinded by stereotype and prejudice, public opinion provides for a popular check on a popular government. In our society, public opinion acts as another popular institution, with a prescribed set of duties, with a prescribed set of interests, and with a prescribed set of checks on other institutions.
For only in popular government do the people have the delight to either decide to participate widely in the administration of public affairs or resign from political discourse with blase privilege. The control with which American people exhibit over their individual political participation is fascinating. Each citizen is expected to fulfil their basic democratic role, which consists of no more than voting and remaining informed. But, they are not demanded to. For those individuals who do identify as politically active, often embittered by polarized faction-based government, their beliefs are often not dictated by principle, but by partisan affiliation. For when politics divulge into simply sectional or ideological purity-tests, in which reaffirmation of the party platform usurps the importance to adhere to principle, the rule of law, or the values on which the nation was founded, the authority from which public opinion can claim is devoid of a substantive voice; a voice which can widely affect the administration of affairs.
Public opinion is demarcated by a variable amount of interests for which Americans knowingly and unknowingly cast their support. In sum, public support is interpreted as what the majority of Americans want or support. We often reduce public opinion down to just an instrument of information-gathering, on which government officials can draw. Once this notion is accepted, however, the true nature of power on which popular government is founded becomes subverted. The people are reserved to empower the government. If we are to accept that our government exercises power on the institutional level, then the people ought to institutionalize the judgements of public opinion. This voice should not be a monolith, as our nation has historically demonstrated that an innumerable amount of competing interests arise in a nation of republican character. This voice should be substantive; an institution which elevates virtuous ideals, protects its collective interests, and remains vigilant against usurpations of power by a branch in the government.
If comity is to be reintroduced into our political system, then the American body politic must take some responsibility in paving the way forward. In all honesty, if we are to prescribe reverence in democracy, then the people need to become a more legitimate source of authority. We need to overcome our fundamental flaws, which ironically, materialize somewhat naturally in free societies because of the sheer abundance of freedom and liberty. For when we resign the power to decide what is true to the utterance of political partisans, we resign our role in popular government. If we are to work towards the future, preserve our multifaceted set of separation of powers, the public opinion must be more critical, more scrupulous, and less gullible. If we are to remain skeptical of our public officials, mainly those working in the executive and legislative branches, we must ensure that the burden of proof falls on every politician who claims something as true. This principle, afforded it does not get corrupted by the skillful arts of conniving politicians, would empower the institutional legitimacy of public opinion.
I do not mean to advocate for democratic absolutism or the democratization of political decision making. “The republican principle,” said the 71st Federalist, “demands that the deliberate sense of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they intrust the management of their affairs; but is does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men, who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests.” It is in our best interest to improve the efficacy of our institutions, with proper education and information, the public opinion can suffice in checking abuses of power, while prescribing power to where the government is deficient in legitimately acting to solve an issue. Public opinion can be weaponized for nefarious purposes, so our public institutions must remain faithful to their constitutional duties. But, in this moment, public opinion must be reinvigorated with an objective challenge to the excesses of maladministration. Popular government in the 21st century relies on the renewed efficacy of its public institutions. With adherence to principle and constitutional values, public opinion serves as a legitimate organ of popular government; the people can reclaim lost authority and reinstitute an era of true popular governance.
