The People - compiled by Dwarika Shrestha
People is the power. People is the Sovereign. People, a small word but indicates to a huge mass of mankind living in the area of certain boundaries, is the most powerful winning instrument for the political leaders. They use it to hammer out the opposition, attract the sympathy of the people, and votes, and also to achieve certain other goals, no matter, whether it be their individual or national. The People can’t be confined within the certain boundary. They are beyond that.
Rick Shenkman in his book ‘Just How Stupid Are We?’ writes, “These three developments - polling, primaries, and referendums - are a natural consequence of the democratic forces unleashed American Revolution by the demand for government by common consent.” John Adam wearily noted, with enshrinement of the principle that “The People are sovereign, group after group now get in line demanding to be heard. Soon blacks would want to be consulted, then women, and who knew who else? “
Use of The People by politicians looks mostly very monopolistic and unfair. Shenkman trying to define The People in tune of the then American politicians writes “Who are The People with whom the politicians are so eager to identify? I use the term in this book loosely to refer to everybody minus politicians, except when I am alluding specifically to the mythologized idea The People. But it is the myth that most people have in mind when they use the term ….“
Let’s be frank. Shenkman further writes, “The People is a largely meaningless term as American use it. It does not fit any particular demographic profile . The people are the poor, the middle class, and the young and the old. That is, they are every body and therefore nobody in particular. Thus things stand today, and thus things have stood since the founding.” James Madison conceded that there is no such thing as The People.” “America is not a mass, no single group can claim to be representative, and majorities shift constantly. Even though the Constitution was promulgated in the name of “We the People,” the construct was a fiction of the drafters’ imagination”.
“Every politician claims to represent The People. To the politician the phrase - almost always it is not just The People, but The American People - is a classic throwaway line with a pleasant populist tinge. …” “In 1968 both Lyndon Johnson in speeches in favour of the Vietnam War and Eugene McCarthy opposing the war expressed their confidence in The People’s wisdom.”
Alan Wolfe, a political scientist says, “In the old politics of democracy, opinion was the input and policy the outcome. In the new politics of democracy, it is the reverse.” ( or policy was the input and the opinion was the output.)
“I believe that now, no less than when the decade began, this generation of Americans is willing to ‘pay price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.’ Since those words were spoken by John F. Kennedy, the people of America have kept that compact with mankind’s noblest cause. And we shall continue to keep it.”
“The People of America”! Well, it sounds good, even if the phrase is meaningless.” (from the book ‘Just How Stupid Are We? in reference with the article “Janata, Janata,…” of the blog.)
Rick Shenkman in his book ‘Just How Stupid Are We?’ writes, “These three developments - polling, primaries, and referendums - are a natural consequence of the democratic forces unleashed American Revolution by the demand for government by common consent.” John Adam wearily noted, with enshrinement of the principle that “The People are sovereign, group after group now get in line demanding to be heard. Soon blacks would want to be consulted, then women, and who knew who else? “
Use of The People by politicians looks mostly very monopolistic and unfair. Shenkman trying to define The People in tune of the then American politicians writes “Who are The People with whom the politicians are so eager to identify? I use the term in this book loosely to refer to everybody minus politicians, except when I am alluding specifically to the mythologized idea The People. But it is the myth that most people have in mind when they use the term ….“
Let’s be frank. Shenkman further writes, “The People is a largely meaningless term as American use it. It does not fit any particular demographic profile . The people are the poor, the middle class, and the young and the old. That is, they are every body and therefore nobody in particular. Thus things stand today, and thus things have stood since the founding.” James Madison conceded that there is no such thing as The People.” “America is not a mass, no single group can claim to be representative, and majorities shift constantly. Even though the Constitution was promulgated in the name of “We the People,” the construct was a fiction of the drafters’ imagination”.
“Every politician claims to represent The People. To the politician the phrase - almost always it is not just The People, but The American People - is a classic throwaway line with a pleasant populist tinge. …” “In 1968 both Lyndon Johnson in speeches in favour of the Vietnam War and Eugene McCarthy opposing the war expressed their confidence in The People’s wisdom.”
Alan Wolfe, a political scientist says, “In the old politics of democracy, opinion was the input and policy the outcome. In the new politics of democracy, it is the reverse.” ( or policy was the input and the opinion was the output.)
“I believe that now, no less than when the decade began, this generation of Americans is willing to ‘pay price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.’ Since those words were spoken by John F. Kennedy, the people of America have kept that compact with mankind’s noblest cause. And we shall continue to keep it.”
“The People of America”! Well, it sounds good, even if the phrase is meaningless.” (from the book ‘Just How Stupid Are We? in reference with the article “Janata, Janata,…” of the blog.)
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