We note the budget compromise in Washington today without pleasure and without much regard for the work and the workers behind it. It is far better than what might have happened, but that is a low standard for a nation that has done so much better, so many times.
Not spending what we do not have is wise. Making a transition to that footing carefully and with regard for the experience of the people who will be hurt by it is morally necessary, to say nothing of the need to keep an eye on the consent of the governed, as the Declaration of Independence demands.
And we ask for some reflection on that word, “governed.” The just powers of the American government derive, we have read, not from the consent of Congress, or even the consent of the voters, but from the consent of the governed. (Please look it up if you do not have the Declaration clearly in mind).
Who are the governed? The rich, the poor, and the rest of us. The long-descended Americans. The illegals. The children. The tax-payers. The homeless. The workers and the idlers. The thinkers and the thoughtless. All of us. All of them. What we and they all think and feel matters.
The.American.Word. 