Inspecting the Foundation

We are now in the second decade of the 21st century, in a world that would be largely unrecognizable to the founders of the American republic. There has been, among other things, a revolution in electronic communications -- Internet, cell phones, video, etc. -- that profoundly alters the way citizens perceive and interact with their government.

However, the human species appears to be pretty much the same as it was in Thomas Jefferson's day. Like then, human beings exhibit courage, generosity, love and creativity on the one hand, and fear, greed, hate and stupidity on the other. The founding fathers understood this, and crafted a governmental system that balanced various interests and achieved a "greater good" through limits on abuses of power.

Today's political system has evolved from our initial founding documents -- the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights -- but it is quite different in some respects from the original system. For one thing, we now have political parties (which are not mentioned in the Constitution). We also have direct election of all members of the House and Senate; in the old days, U.S. senators were selected by the state legislatures, and this did not change until the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in 1913. Our president, by contrast is still elected indirectly, through an group of electors called the "Electoral College," under a system that dates back to the 1700's.

Concerns about the "decline" of the United States in the 21st century often raise questions about the relevance of the founding documents, given the dramatic changes in all sectors -- including the economy, society and lifestyle -- that have taken place since the founding. The cleverness of the founders in crafting a sophisticated political system that balanced competing interests has never been in doubt. But some wonder if the old system is working properly, given the changes that have taken place since the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787.

The crafters of the Constitution never envisioned such things as an election campaign mechanism requiring hundreds of millions -- billions -- of dollars to be raised from donors, a vast network of lobbyists attempting to shape the politics of the country in one direction or another, and a lumbering federal bureaucracy that powerfully affects almost all aspects of human life.

This forum will explore ways of renovating and refreshing the American political system, to give greater relevance to the founding documents and align them better with the realities of the new world in which we live.

Meanwhile, I recommend that you do a little background reading: take a close look (or re-look) at The Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison in 1787-8 in support of the proposed U.S. Constitution. See how the authors analyzed human behavior in the context of public policy and politics. This collection of articles will furnish us with insights for moving forward.