Popular sovereignty is that the power of the nation rests within the people, and the government is only valid as long as the people say that it is. The United States was founded on this enlightenment concept. Recently it seems as if we have been leaning away from this concept. Most politicians now don't give a hoot about the people, and only wish to line their own pockets with special interest money. I question whether politicians ever did pay attention to this fact.
From the beginning, the popular sovereignty was only to people who owned land. Only landed white people were aloud to vote. This disenfranchised the poor, minorities, and women. Now we have erased the voting restrictions placed on these groups, but the the power has been taken away from the citizens. The power lies in corporate interests who decide policies. It's amazing how some things never change. Even under the guise of having full voting rights, once the statesmen are in office, they pander to the big money. Corporations and special interests seem to amount to what was, once, landowning white men.
The power of the United States doesn't exist within the people anymore and that's what those in power want. Most of us are too busy leading mediocre lives, struggling to live day to day, paycheck to paycheck, in debt up to our eyeballs to realize this. Most people don't even know what popular sovereignty is and the fact that our country was based on this. I wish I could make everybody realize what's going on and how they're getting screwed. I will, but I can't do it alone. Anybody reading this needs to help reintroduce these ideas to the people, so that we can take popular sovereignty back. If you ask most politicians what they really think, it would be that the power does not rest in the hands of the people, that no matter who you vote for, once thye're in office, what the people want is out the window.
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