We the People . . .

With the prospect that the I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis will result in months of investigation and controversy, we are uncomfortably reminded that we live in a democratic republic. This means that there is an even more uncomfortable answer to the responsibility of possible design, inspection and repair failures in our aging national infrastructure of which the I-35 Bridge is a catastrophic example. The answer is not found in an individual politician or political party; worse, the answer is in the starting point of our democracy – “We the People."

In the Preamble of the United States Constitution are the words “We the People of the United States . . .” Through these simple words the purpose and parameters of our government are established in the Constitution. It is “We the People” who form our government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty. While politicos bask in the clouded realms of verbal sophistry, legislative tweaking and analytic obfuscation overshadowed by hours of commentary, pseudo-expert explanations, theorizations, debate and the morass of fault finding, “We the People” suffer the final consequence of representative failures. When any part of our representative government fails us, we fail ourselves. “We the People” are responsible for our democracy.

It is unfortunate that events as the I-35 bridge collapse blur among the many other concerns and failures to address critical issues such as the health care, education, economic and security interests of Americans. In a democratic republic, we trust that our values are invested to serve the needs of the people; however, when there is a failure to address the formative basis of our government, the failure is our own if we are to accept responsibility in our democracy. We must accept the responsible to preserve our democracy by engagement in the democratic process.

Our elected representatives are responsible to “We the People.” If the democracy we share does not match the democracy that serves us, we can only look to ourselves for the answer. “We the People” must come first in the thought of democratic government. For far too long our politics have been given priority over our interests, but then we are responsible for that as well.