MISSOURI WATCH: JUST WHO IS TO BLAME?

What a remarkable world we live in.

Narrowing it down a bit to the U.S. of A., we see a federal government that teeters between titillation and taunts, one seemingly preoccupied with the sexual habits of its elected officials, allowing a moment or two to witness the sparring of two political parties that, most times, seem to represent no one but their own leaders and benefactors.

Narrowing the focus even more, we are able to view a state government that seems to teeter between indolence and indifference, one that appears only concerned about keeping the public pacified while refusing to revisit age-old problems

At this moment, with precious days disappearing quickly, Missourians are about to elect leaders to represent them in both federal and state legislatures, as well as other officers whose decisions will affect the lives of thousands, if not millions, of citizens. Despite this impending election, it is safe to say that only a few thousand have given any thought to the candidates and their qualifications.

One is reminded of Benjamin Franklin's warning at the close of the Philadelphia Congress in 1787 that gave the nation its first post-revolutionary constitution: "Gentlemen, we have fashioned for the nation a Republic, a democracy allowing our citizens the right to govern themselves. May God grant us the strength to do so."

These are times when thoughtful citizens wonder whether Franklin's prayer for strength has been answered or ignored.

When it comes to understanding how governments should work, as opposed to how they actually perform, and when it comes to knowledge of crucial issues, as opposed to partisan sham battles that have no meaning, many citizens seem to feel they have no obligation, other than to voice meaningless criticism that does more to expose their ignorance than their indifference. Contrary to prevailing view, the public has a larger role to play in this representative government that Franklin and others fashioned for us than that of poorly informed critic.

We have forgotten that the Founding Fathers meant for citizens to be active participants in their noble attempt to fashion self-government, and become more involved in the affairs of state than those held captive by totalitarian monarchies and fervent theocracies. They meant for us to play an active role in decision-making, an exercise requiring us to use our knowledge and experience to the fullest extent.

If Franklin and his friends had envisioned a nation whose citizens were to passively acquiesce to their leaders' decisions, they would not have attempted to fashion a government that would permit its citizens to exercise the right to vote and select their leaders by ballot. The constitutionalists envisioned citizens who accepted responsibility and who exercised their granted powers; they envisioned citizens as active and involved, exercising wisdom that comes from majority rule.

This is the vision we citizens of America and Missouri have forgotten. We have placed it so far from our current thinking that many must wonder if they were ever taught such a lesson. And perhaps they weren't.

Can any citizen take pride in what today passes as governance in our nation's capital? Are we content with watching our elected leaders focus on matters that normally are so trivial as to border on the absurd? Do we take satisfaction in recognizing that those who represent us are more beholden to the interests that supply the cash for their campaigns than those who elect them? Do we really believe that the majority of one political party can better administer our government's affairs than the majority of the other political party? Do we really believe that the current manner in which we select leaders is the best way for a democracy to exercise our will?

These are questions seldom raised, and less often answered, but we risk our future as the world's leading democracy unless we begin to pay attention to the destructive trends that have changed our manner of governance since America's dawning more than two centuries ago.

Today's political irrelevance toward the common good is the most disturbing trend of all. In Jefferson City, great debates went on for months over how to compromise a nearly two-decades-long neglect of the majority of Missouri's school children, a neglect which saw the expenditure of billions of dollars to conform to one judge's concept of educational equality. The surprise is not that his concept was wrong, and tragically detrimental to the majority, but that it took so long to fashion any compromise that would seem to be acceptable. Citizen involvement was negligible and was never sought.

In Washington the role of our federal government at this moment appears to be divided between the prosecution and defense of our chief elected official involving acts which are morally indefensible but not illegal. Great decisions, affecting the health and welfare of citizens yet unborn, are postponed as we eagerly turn to view the scandalous and salacious. We either care too much about the political future of our president or we care not at all, and it is hard to know which is worse.

Worst of all is the absence of public involvement and the sheer indifference toward public welfare of a political system that increasingly displays less and less concern for the majority and less and less responsibility from the governed. There is enough fault to go around.

The early Greeks called those who were uninterested in public affairs "idiotes." Today they're simply known as American democracy's indifferent citizens. Unfortunately, their numbers increase by the moment.

Jack Stapleton of Kennett is editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.