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“No Living Man May Hinder Me”
On Misogyny, Racism, and the Tragedy of too Many White Men in Government
A representative democracy is precisely that. It is a democracy where representatives of the population who reflect the population in their own demographic defend their electorate with law, justice, and action. This is what is envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution and what — in particular — James Madison routinely wrote about. The idea was that in particular Congress would closely resemble or have “sympathy” for the American electorate. For reference peruse the Federalist Papers (specifically “№52”).
It is clear from our laws and the exercise of our laws that many of our representatives, senators, and certainly our current President do not have “sympathy,” Madisonian or not for the American people. We could take a historical perspective and talk about how late suffrage came for so many rather large populations. We can talk about slavery and overtly racist legislation against African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans and literally every group of Americans who were clearly not Anglo and Protestant. But let’s not. That’s all rather crucial and I have much to say on that, and the past absolutely informs the present, but for now let’s just focus on the present.
At present we have babies in cages at the border, latinxs forced to carry a passport…
