Many citizens of their respective countries accept the government ordered taxes as part of their personal economy and for the good of the nation. There is a contribution to make to all societies and a substantial part of that living is financial support. It is the loss of representation and some say in the use of those finances that brought the British colonies to the point where they declared themselves underrepresented and over taxed. Eventually this would cause them to break free from the king and start their own form of government. It took some time, decades I would say, much longer others would say to iron out what that form of government would look like.
Each state would write their own constitutions and in most cases, the citizens at large would ratify them. There were several layers of self representation in this process.
This was simpler in Athens. Most citizens were expected to be self representing. they had a say in all matters of their city state including how much of the currency was spent and when to go to war. I would argue that they had more of a say than any nation does today. I would also argue that would be impossible to replicate today.
The important point is, that people can accept taxation in proportion to representation. Their taxes are hard earned expressions of what they hope their country can be in the international arena, magnanimous and generous. At some point though, and no one knows when or where, but at some point, the citizen feels like they have lost all say in the common sense spending of that capitol. The good will of the people fades and their desire to be better represented rises to the surface.
It is amazing the burdens that people can bear when they know their voice is heard and respected, even if they did not prevail in their hopes or directions they hope for their country.
It seems like crisis and conflict are hot on the heels of a period where the voice of the people has been squelched and eventually shut out. Some go on trying to be heard and others give in to despair. They use their voice for as long as they can. But every democracy grew as the common voices were heard and they declined as they stopped listening to the same voices.
Athens did use voting as a way to choose leaders as much as we do. They took many votes, but they were more often votes on ideas. We use votes to put in place leaders that we think will make our ideas come to be. That is a step removed from Athens, maybe more in practice. If they were to go to war, a terribly costly endeavor, they as a body of citizens voted it. If the war turned out well, they could celebrate their own decisions. If it turned out badly, well, that is another matter. At any rate, they had a few leaders to blame but they could recognize that they too shouldered some of the blame. After all, they helped craft the debate and decision to go to war.
This is not how it works today, is it? I don’t know how to improve it honestly, short of taking a national poll every time a major decision was to be made. That would be crazy, right? But I still think there is something to listening to the citizens or what we commonly call our constituents. The better we listen to them, and act like them and vote like them, the closer we are to their lives and economies. As we grow more distant from them and act upon the interests of others outside our constituency, the quicker we bring disrepute and anxiety to our conduct of civil affairs.
We could stand a revival of civic discourse and debate. People passionately trying to make their case but respecting the opinion of the other debaters as well. If only there were such a forum.
Shows, like Firing Line with Buckley, or the Prime Ministers Questions, come to mind. Granted these are politicians or elites or academics, but they could come down to our level and we could identify with them. And it could spread. In some ways, the vlog and blogs and videos on the internet are creating a lot of good debate. It’s unfortunate that many wish to cancel those blogs with which they disagree, we seem to be in a great age of disagreeableness if you ask me.
I simply hope we will regain the privilege of listening to one another again. Much depends on it.