Continuing in a series of poems about the establishment of our republican form of government and life under the rule of law as set out in our constitution:
Consent of the Governed by Michael Doyle The standards are set by the Declaration of Independence In all of its truths and its just transcendence That a just government depends on the People's consent And the People's rights are unalienably permanent Both of these can be held in a state of tension This is why these so urgently require our attention Slavery for example was just such a deep subject In which we found and find these to be rather abject Publius pointed out the historical sense of our lesson That there is nothing new and even less to guessing That self-government can indeed work for the People Gathered together under the dome of freedom's steeple Past vacillation of the extremes of democracy Kept so many imprisoned between tyranny and anarchy In re-examining the classics, we begin to discern That the order of society depends on what we learn This is the thing about learning from the past It must be decided what will work and will last Things that we need to know and their just improvement Are what must be added to the science of government Such things as do make up man's finest hour Are the distribution of the balance of power The checks and balances of patent ambition And representation with it's own inhibitions Another component which is almost legendary Is the necessity of an independent judiciary All of these are improvements on the old A bit of the best on which we must be told To be the powerful and needed political means By which a republican government of human beings Is best kept despite all of our human imperfection Avoiding all the deficiencies of our detection This then is what it means to be republican In turn, this is what it means to be American Unchecked power is an invitation to defeat The very means by which we lose our seat There at the table of freedom and liberty Under the rule of law this must always be Kept in the ways of legislative representation And an executive also voted in for our nation (c) May 9, 2020 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
