Distant Dome: May A 250-Year Old Experiment Survive

By GARRY RAYNO, Distant Dome, InDepth NH

In George Washington’s first Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789, he said, “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”

On the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this experiment in self-governance and as Ronald Reagan said “to test the ability of people to live together in freedom” is still alive, but staggering.

When the founders of the United States gathered in Philadelphia to craft the foundational documents of our country, a good number of them did not believe every citizen should have the right to vote or “real self governance.”

The southern delegates particularly believed voting should be for the landowners and businessmen, while the rebels and common folk should not be able to decide their fate.

However, Gouverneur Morris and others believed if democracy were to take hold and flourish it had to be inclusive and involve everyone, not be exclusive with only the landowners and wealthy making decisions.

Granted in those early days everyone did not mean everyone, it meant white males who weren’t criminals.

It did not include women, AfroAmericans or any other race but white males.

Arriving at the point of drafting a constitution and a bill of rights had not been easy.

The rabble rousers in Boston upset the New York City merchants who did not want things stirred up to the point that business would be disrupted between the colonies and Europe.

But those in Boston had a different sense of what needed to be done and when the British imposed a tax on tea that favored the East India Company, they tossed the tea in the harbor.

Although many claim it was over taxation itself, Venessa Williamson, a senior fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings, in her book “The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History” argues that Americans normally do not hold extreme anti-tax views.

She argues in her book that the Boston Tea Party was not anti-tax, but in opposition to the tax cut the East India Company received from the King of England, and who was collecting the tax.

“People largely see taxation as a civic duty. Being a taxpayer is an indication of citizenship. Taxation becomes controversial only when who counts as a citizen becomes controversial,” she writes.

And who counts as a citizen has been an area of constant contention since before the country was established.

Slavery was an issue that created friction from day one, with many believing it was immoral and did not align with the principles in the founding documents, while those who had slaves believed it was their right and they flourished with the cheap labor.

And ultimately what began to bring an end to slavery was the realization that the system did not work for everyone as those with slaves were at an economic advantage to those who had to pay people to work.

The Congress spent countless hours debating and sparring over slavery in new states as the country expanded westward. The argument was who should be the decision makers, the wealthy slave owners and businessmen or the general public, the greater good or the individual good.

The southern slave owners wanted to maintain their wealth and lifestyle while the pesky northerners were trying to disrupt their livelihood.

The issue ended with the Civil War, but really did not resolve the battle.

The end of the war eventually gave black males the right to vote, but not if you couldn’t read or pass the test or pay a poll tax you could not afford or any other of the numerous ways slave states initiated to prevent black people from voting or participating in democracy.

Women eventually had to force their way into the room to sit at the table of the decision-makers through the suffrage movement that was as contentious as black voting.

However, this experiment in democracy adapted to the aftermath of the Civil War and the inclusion of women and the divisions that plagued the country from time to time.

What did not change was the wealth that controlled the economy across the country as after the war the coming of industrialization saw robber barons create tremendous wealth for themselves, although many were philanthropists who built libraries and recital halls, and endowed universities with their extra money.

Working class people could enjoy some of what they created in their names, but not all.

The oligarchs had control of the country, buying the politicians they needed to ensure the system they created remained in place until the Great Depression.

The Great Depression ushered in Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president who created the new deal which created a safety net for the vast majority of people in this country. He also changed the role of government to be more responsive to the needs of all Americans not just those who owned the steel mills, railroads and factories.

As much as the safety net and Social Security gave average Americans the freedom to thrive, the regulations of business were just as important.

The banks could no longer operate as they pleased and businesses could not produce products that harmed people or sullied the environment, although that came later.

The oligarchs fought the changes and many continue to do so to this day including those who were guided by economist James Buchanan and his public choice theory which argued politicians and government bureaucrats, like voters and consumers, act in their own self-interest rather than exclusively for the public good.

His work theorized that the wealthy and well educated should make the decisions because average Americans will make decisions in his own best interest, which will require the wealthy to pay a greater share.

The Koch brothers were some of his biggest supporters.

Buchanan worked with parents in North Carolina and Virginia to help create the segregation schools so white children did not have to attend schools with black children.

It also was the beginning of the voucher movement that is popular today.

Many wealthy southerners did not want to pay to educate black children after the Brown vs Board of Education decision.

But Buchanan’s theories did not find universal acceptance because most people understood they were not in their best interest.

Despite the money spent to overturn it, this experiment in democracy survived and under the concept of liberal democracy that swept the free world with a rule of law, the protection of individual rights and civil liberties, the separation of power and political pluralism, the country thrived.

The middle class exploded in the middle part of the 20th Century as millions of Americans could afford homes, new cars every three years and to send their children to college.

But the oligarchs never gave up and developed a plan to bring themselves back to power. It started with Republicans taking over state legislatures, once the hallmark of Democrats and ended with the US Supreme Court.

It began its march with the election of Ronald Reagan as President in 1980.

When Reagan entered office the highest tax bracket was 70 percent on unearned or investment income, but was lowered to 28 percent before he left office.

That shifted the tax burden to individuals and corporations not in the top brackets as the money had to come from somewhere and it began the largest transfer of wealth in this country’s history from the low and middle class to the mega wealthy as it did in the early part of the 20th Century shifting the country’s wealth into the hands of a few.

With the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allowing dark money to flow into political campaigns like never before, the plan put in place 50 years earlier, was complete with the wealthy again controlling the politicians who need their help to be elected.

With today’s technology and social media lies become facts, evil becomes good and corruption is rampant.

No wonder people feel the system is rigged because it is and it is not in their favor. The issue is still who is included.

The pressures on this experiment for democracy are enormous today, but history often repeats itself.

Democracy survived the Civil War, the age of the robber barons and Richard Nixon and his Wall Street gang, it will survive this era as the country’s 250th anniversary approaches.

Fireworks are harder to find because tariffs have made them much more expensive, but parades will be held, communities will gather to celebrate the American revolution and people will hold cookouts, but maybe not with steaks.

There is much to celebrate with the hope that this experiment goes forward — as it has since it began 250 years ago - and finds a path forward, even in the darkest of times.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

Distant Dome by veteran journalist Garry Rayno explores a broader perspective on the State House and state happenings for InDepthNH.org. Over his three-decade career, Rayno covered the NH State House for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Foster’s Daily Democrat. During his career, his coverage spanned the news spectrum, from local planning, school and select boards, to national issues such as electric industry deregulation and Presidential primaries. Rayno lives with his wife Carolyn and their two rescue dogs.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.