July 23rd, 2024
“We hold these truths to be self-evidence, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Thus wrote Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. That last clause is the basis for this essay.
Most people overestimate the true power of a government, thinking it a mighty irresistable force. Yet increasing population has made it impossible for governments to cow their citizens into obedience since the 18th century. The federal government of the USA employs a grand total (including its armed forces) of about 20 million people, out of a total population of 330 million. The citizenry outnumbers the government by about 15 to 1.
How can a government insure the compliance of its citizens? Three methods are available:
1. Control information. Totalitarian regimes rely heavily upon this tactic. If you insure that the citizens cannot discover the truth of your oppressions, and feed them rosy lies of how beneficent your regime is, no opposition to your rule will arise. The problem, of course, is that “The truth will out”. You must apply extreme methods to keep the truth from the population. North Korea is the most assiduous in such efforts, but the totality of its effort impoverishes the population. The system works; the Kim regime is secure. But where the northern half of Korea was more prosperous at the end of World War II, these days the GDP of South Korea is 60 times greater than that of North Korea.
2. Secret police. This is another vital tactic for tyrants. China is the world champion in this regard; it maintains detailed records on the activities of every citizen. There are cameras everywhere; you cannot go anywhere without the government knowing. All of your internet activity is monitored, as are your telephone calls. The slightest sign of nonconformance is quickly found and insubordinate citizens are quickly jailed.
3. Appeal to national survival. Tyrants always maintain that the nation is under threat from some malign force: foreign enemies, Jews, liberals, the rich, a religion, and so on. They attempt to justify their tyranny as necessary to the defense of the nation.
4. Maintain the consent of the citizenry. This is the goal of democracies. Citizens who are able to control the operation of the government obey that government. Of course, the disagreements inevitable to any large population insure that every citizen must suffer government policies that they oppose, but if the procedures by which those policies are determined are broadly agreed upon as fair and necessary, then most people will accept them.
The degree to which the citizens as a whole perceive the government to fairly represent their interests is known as the legitimacy of that government. The government of North Korea has no legitimacy whatever; its citizens do not trust or respect it; they obey its dictates out of fear. Tyrannical governments have little to no legitimacy.
It is impossible to attain perfect legitimacy, because the mechanics of operating a government are only approximations of fairness. Citizens may grumble, but most comply.
America has two other factors that reduce the legitimacy of the federal government, both built into the Constitution. The first of these is the Senate, which holds great power and is not a democratic institution. The Senate represents not the people of America, but the states of America. In the 21st century, the rural states hold power grossly disproportionate to their populations, permitting them to shove their political preferences down the throats of the urban states. Inasmuch as rural states are conservative and urban states are liberal, this gives a huge advantage to the conservatives. This is why there’s such a big difference between the policies of the federal government and the preferences of the population.
Another contribution to the illegitimacy of the federal government is the Electoral College, which, like the Senate, gives disproportional power to conservatives. In every presidential election in this century, the Democratic candidate gained more votes than the Republican candidate, yet, of the six presidential terms we have had in this century, three were held by Republicans. It is entirely reasonable for citizens to reject the legitimacy of Presidents who were installed by a minority of the voters.
Here’s the rub: overall social efficiency increases with increasing legitimacy, and decreases with decreasing legitimacy. The degree to which people comply with the rules depends upon the degree to which they perceive that the rules are fair. Some of America’s problems are ultimately attributable to weak legitimacy.
For example, consider the problem of crime. The five countries with the highest crime rates are Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Afghanistan, Haiti, and South Africa. These countries all suffer from oppressie or incompetent governments that do not enjoy the respect of their citizens.
By contrast, the Vatican has the lowest crime rate in the world; after all, the citizens of that nation are all agreed that God is the proper and legitimate ruler.
Other countries with extremely low crime rates are Japan , Switzerland, South Korea, and Norway. These are all countries with well-functioning, strongly democratic governments. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate
But the USA suffers from a much higher crime rate than other nations. Its crime rate is higher than that of 148 other nations; only 56 nations have higher crime rates than the USA. This may surprise you; surely most people you know accept the legitimacy of the government — right?
Your perception is not shared by millions of other Americans. They see things differently. Why? Because of income inequality — to be explained in the next essay.