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Is the great American experiment unraveling?
By Dwight D. Weidman
“The Prince” is a 16th-century political treatise written by the Italian diplomat, philosopher, and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli in the form of a realistic instruction guide for new princes. Originally written in 1513 but not published until 1532, five years after the author’s death, it contains some interesting insights into the political thought of the day. The book itself was required reading for one of my Political Science courses back in the day when college students could still read books, and just as in many books I’ve read, one phrase, in chapter 9, still sticks with me, and it is this one:
“He who builds on the people, builds on the mud”.
It is pretty obvious what Machiavelli meant by writing this, which was a common conventional wisdom of a time when democracy was rare. He suggested that the support of the people is unreliable and fickle and can shift rapidly during tough times, much the same as if your house is built on a soft foundation when severe weather hits.
Now it is reasonable to say that Machiavelli also lived in a time where education was rare, and the average person couldn’t even read or write and certainly didn’t know what was going on in the world around them, and those circumstances have changed since then, right? Well, yes, and no.
Our Republic (yes, Republic) has lasted almost 250 years, and that is a pretty astounding and rare record when you consider how unique it is in World history. I say unique because the United States has, through its founding documents has limited the power of its central government and recognized basic rights as coming from God. That worked pretty well for a couple of centuries when most Americans feared God and also felt a sense of responsibility for the maintenance of their society, Unfortunately, it seems that Americans have changed, and not for the better.
We all probably know someone who will tell you that they are “not political”, and they often will say so with an air of superiority, as if they are too good to lower themselves to the level of responsible citizenship. There can be a number of reasons for this. They can feel disconnected from their country, its institutions, or their fellow citizens, or more often they are just lazy and apathetic and can’t see anything outside of their little four by five existence. There is also the fairly modern phenomenon of people who live in a fantasy world of conspiracy theories and paranoia who feel any effort to involve themselves in self-governance is a waste of time. Of course, they are all the first to complain when things go wrong. After all, they value comfort over truth and hard work.
Whatever the reason for their non-participation, these slackers make up a vast number. For instance, in the 2024 election 85.9 million, or about 38% of eligible voters didn’t vote. That’s right, 85.9 million, which is more votes than either President Donald Trump (76.8 million) or former Vice President Kamala Harris (74.3 million) received. About 42% of these non-voters were Millennials, followed closely by 28% of Generation Z, who incidentally, are the first US generation to have lower IQ scores than previous generations. That’s a disturbing number, and with important mid-term elections right around the corner, you have to wonder just how many will be too lazy to get to the polls. The problem is compounded by the fact that, in addition to the slugs who never vote, there are millions of Americans who are ignorant of how our government is structured and how it is supposed to work. Many don’t know what a primary election is or even that we choose many of those who represent us in mid-term or off-year elections. Perhaps these people are the “mud” that Machiavelli referred to in his treatise.
When Benjamin Franklin was leaving our Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a woman, identified as Elizabeth Willing Powell, asked Franklin, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”. Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it”. What did Ben mean by that? He meant that the responsibility of maintaining our republic lies with its citizens and not just our lawmakers. If people become lazy, apathetic, and corrupt, they become both unwilling and incapable of self-government. If nearly four in ten Americans fail to turn out in a presidential election and even more do the same in a mid-term election, we are indeed setting the stage for a collapse in our republic just as if it were a house built on a mud foundation.
Dwight Weidman is a resident of Greene Township and is a graduate of Shepherd University. He is retired from the United States Department of Defense, where his career included assignments In Europe, Asia, and Central America. He has been in leadership roles for the Republican Party in two states, most recently serving two terms as Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. He has been an Amateur Radio Operator since 1988, getting his first license in Germany, a past volunteer with both Navy and Army MARS, Military Auxiliary Radio Service, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor. In his spare time, he dabbles in genealogy and learning new languages.
