THE LATE American President Abraham Lincoln spoke about a “government of the people, by the people and for the people” in his famous Gettysburg Address.
Although President Lincoln said these words more than two hundred years ago, it is still very clear up to now that the government of any democratic country should belong to the people, and to no one else, not even to the ruling parties nor the elected and appointed officials from these parties.
Even if it would clearly appear that these officials are the ones running the government, it is also clear that they are doing so under an authority given by the people. What is even clearer is that the beneficiaries of their governance should be the people, and not themselves.
In theory, it could be said that the authority given by the people to the parties or the persons in power is only temporarily borrowed, because in reality that authority could be permanently taken back on the force of an impeachment or a recall election, as the case may be.
That said, it is even clearer that the government really belongs to the people, and to no one else.
Since there is really no ownership issue in this regard, the only remaining issue so to speak is the exercise of that ownership, by way of the participation of the people in the process of governance. I am not talking here about the participation of the people in the process of elections, since that is merely the process of choosing whom to give the authority to.
During the early life of the Greek City States, they were able to practice direct democracy because there were only very few citizens that could attend their public meetings. When their populations grew however, they invented their Senates, in which case they already elected the public officials who could represent them, in other words, to vote for and in their behalf in the passing of laws.
Then and now, the theory is that it is still the people who are participating in the lawmaking and in the governance, although indirectly by way of the elected representatives. Fast forward to today however, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is now available to make direct democracy possible.
Then and now, it is a known fact that public opinion could influence both lawmaking and governance. What that means is that then and now, the people could indirectly participate in both processes, especially if they are involved in public hearings and public consultations. (To be continued)/PN
