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Representation - A lost knowledge?
Sorry if this is not the right place or if this has been discussed eslewhere. I did search around a bit, but did not see anything similiar. Anywise, here goes:
I have been looking into the real world around me for right about a year now and have only recently come to realize exactly what those who founded this country meant by representative houses and republican form of government.
Please let me know if you feel that I am way off the mark here, but I am thinking that real representation starts at the local level.
Most cities and towns (municipal corporations that they are) have regularly scheduled town meetings where the people can keep abreast of what is going on and bring up issues of concern to them.
By attending these meetings (or getting information on what occurs in them from others who can attend them), one can keep abreast of what is going on with the local government while raising concerns about problems being caused by governments further up the chain. Once can also hone their oratory skills and practice them to fight corrupted logic used to convince people of falsehoods.
Cities and towns generally have charters that outline how the people can go about removing unruly council members from office. If the people make the effort to get rid of those who represent special interests rather than the people, then they can eventually get people into office that will represent their interests.
At that point, the peoples representatives (city council members) can force the county to obey their interests or suffer the same fate.
From there, the power of the county can be used to make the state fall into line and the power of the state can be used to make the federal government do the same.
Yes, it will take work.
Yes, people will likely be apathetic.
Yes, local council members will resist.
However, most people I know believe that representation means electing people they do not know to rule over them and have no idea how to eject unruly public servants from office.
If people can become educated to understand just how important these local meetings are in respect to reserving their rights, then they may well start to attend them.
A city can better resist tyranical laws than one of the people, and subjugating an entire town or city will more readily make news than the subjugation of a small group of people.
Anywise, it could be a pipe dream...but I believe that this is what is really meant by representation. I recognize that the majority of americans are asleep and easily misled due to their ignorance, but once the fire of truth is found, it is hard indeed to extinguish.
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