The American Social Contract: The Consent of the Governed.
The American experiment was born at a time when the idea of self-governance was radical and irrational. Our nation’s founders did not invent this idea; they inherited it from Enlightenment thinkers who challenged centuries of aristocratic rule and formed the idea of a constitutional form of government where government attained their rights from the people. John Locke argued that natural rights, life, liberty, and property, are derived from God, not from kings. Jean-Jacques Rousseau pushed further, insisting that citizens must actively participate in shaping laws, and that sovereignty belongs to the people through a “General Will”. These principles became the blueprint of our nation’s Constitution and served as catalysts that challenged Europe’s monarchies and “divinely” appointed political hierarchies.
Our founders took these radical ideas and designed a constitutional republic where people - not government - held the power. But they also added a system of checks and balances to prevent any single faction from capturing power. James Madison famously stated in Federalist No.51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Which is why power must be divided, ambition set against ambition, and structure against structure. Madison and his colleagues knew that constitutional machinery alone would not sustain a republic. The system required an active, informed citizenry willing to participate in their own governance and if necessary, to defend their rights against tyranny. Similarly, Thomas Jefferson knew well that tyranny thrives when people are disengaged from their government. Finally, George Washington in his farewell address warned against factions, foreign influence, and political parties because they divert interest, exploit citizens and the people’s consent. The founders designed a republic that could survive human imperfection but only if citizens showed up to vote, deliberate, and hold elected representatives accountable. Withdrawal and division was not an option, it was political suicide.
For decades we have been eroding what the nation’s founders designed. Civic participation in the US has been declining for decades. In the 2022 midterm elections voter turnout was 46.8%. In the 2024 presidential election which was considered a high-turnout year, it reached 64%. To make matters worse, our media virtually ignores local and state government and policy issues, which impact our lives more so than federal policy. While town meetings shrink and state houses pass policy that usurp rights, the media focus attention on national issues taking place in Washington DC.
In my March brief Brief 1, I wrote that American participation in churches, fraternal orders, and civic organizations has plummeted. Historically, these institutions taught people how to organize, debate, and act collectively. But this is only part of the problem. In 2010, Citizens United v. FEC eliminated restrictions on corporate and union spending in elections. This ruling opened the floodgates for unlimited money to shape politics via Super PACs, lobbying organizations, and special interest groups. Indeed, such groups have poured billions into campaigns, often drowning out the people’s voice. Corporations and wealthy donors do not just influence outcomes; they shape which issues are prioritized, which candidates rise, and which policies become law in our communities.
While money floods the political system, ordinary citizens are adjusting to a shifting economy. The financialization I examined in April’s brief has not just shifted how wealth is rewarded, but it has squeezed the middle class. Real wages have stagnated for decades while costs for housing, healthcare, and education have increased. Americans work longer hours than workers in most developed nations, many holding multiple jobs to stay afloat. When you are working two jobs to pay rent, medical bills threaten insolvency, student loans consume your income, civic participation becomes a luxury.
Economic systems that keep people financially unstable also keep them politically passive, the founders understood that economic independence and civic participation were linked. Jefferson’s vision of the agrarian America rested on the idea that people with stable livelihoods could participate freely in self-governance. But financialization has changed that model, instead of broad-based wealth creation that enables participation, we have concentrated wealth to the point that money consumes all your time and leaves none for citizenship. The result is a cycle of financial pressure that suppresses civic engagement, enables policy capture, and further institutionalizes these arrangements that keep people unfocused to check power. This is a feature when citizens withdraw, when participation drops, and organized money fills the void.
Lobbyists and Corporate Interests do not skip votes, they are well-funded, resourceful, active and coordinated in a way that individuals cannot match. The result is laws written by and for these groups while people are disengaged and divided. A government that rules without broad participation is not governing by consent of the people. The social contract is shattered, trust collapses and the institutions built to check power lose their credibility. We are watching that happen right now. Trust in Congress, the Supreme Court, the media, and elections is eroding. The system the founders designed meant to resist tyranny by balancing power and requiring participation relies on trust is eroding. Checks and balances do not function if no one is watching, accountability does not exist if no one is demanding it. The remedy is not complicated, but it will require sustained effort. We must re-engage in the system the founders built, starting locally and at the state level where our individual voices carry the most weight.
First: Vote in every election, especially local and state election. Municipal elections, school board races, state legislative races, gubernatorial elections often see lower turnout then federal elections. These races determine zoning laws, education policy, tax rates, infrastructure spending, which are decisions which shape your everyday life. Politicians respond to people who advocate and constituencies that show up, if you do not vote someone else is deciding for you.
Second: Attend town halls, city council meetings, and school board sessions. These are venues where policy is debated before it is enacted. Showing up, asking questions, voicing concerns, demanding accountability forces elected officials to explain their decisions.
Third: Organize, the collapse of civic institutions means we must rebuild them. Join, start or rebuild local advocacy groups such as churches, unions, fraternal orders, foundations which focus on issues that you care about. Housing reform, education policy, government transparency, tax reform are all amplified when collective action advocates for these issues.
Fourth: Demand transparency and accountability, file public record requests, audit budgets, track campaign contributions, ask your representatives their priorities.
Fifth: Resist the narrative that active participation, voting, and “politics” do not matter. That narrative serves those who benefit from your disengagement, the founders designed this republic to be sustain by responsive and organized pressure. The American experiment was never guaranteed to succeed, it required active, informed citizens willing to defend it. That requirement has not changed, if we withdraw the system will continue to collapse, but if we re-engage, we can repair what has been broken and build what is to come for future Americans.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/voter-turnout-2020-2024/