Monthly Newsletter: The Proper Role of Citizens by Stephen Palmer

Published: Sun, 08/01/10

"Empowering Ordinary Citizens to Make an Extraordinary Difference"

The Proper Role of Citizens

By Stephen Palmer

I'm tired of debating political philosophy. More precisely, I'm tired of neglecting why it matters.

Within our community, we emphasize the U.S. Constitution as a pillar in the structure of ideal society. We speak often of the proper role of government and the dire consequences of it straying outside of those bounds.

I've devoured my share of Plato and Aristotle, Rousseau and Locke, Hamilton and Jefferson, Mill and Marx, Montesquieu and Tocqueville, Mises and Keynes, and other foundational thinkers.

I've written hundreds of articles centered on the Constitution and ideal government. Freedom is my mission.

But lately I've realized that I've neglected a far more important principle than the proper role of government.

When I was 17 years old, I attended a week-long educational series for youth.

One of my evening classes was dance instruction.

The first night we were asked to find a partner. As my partner and I chatted, I watched a disabled young man asking girls to dance with him.

One after another, I watched him circle the room and face rejection after rejection after heart-wrenching rejection.

At the time I had no words to explain or even understand the tornado of emotions that tore through my soul.

Choking and struggling for breath, I mumbled an apology to my partner and excused myself to go out into the hall, where I shuddered with uncontrollable sobs for several minutes.

Fourteen years later, I have words: Debating political philosophy is far less important than cherishing and serving all people as children of God.

Articles and Clauses and power charts and legislative processes are simply means to greater ends. Unfortunately, I fear we focus far too infrequently on these more important issues.

Freedom is about fatherless, shoeless, hopeless kids living in squalor, picking through moldy dumps just to ease the ache in their bellies.

Freedom is about widows, whose husbands died with guns in their hands, cooking spoiled rice for their children through their tears because it's all they can give.

It's about fathers risking it all to cross borders to send a few dollars home and going to sleep in dirty shacks thinking of their daughters' eyes.

It's about empty-eyed kids who can't think beyond ghetto boundaries and who won't look you in the eye.

It's about real people with real lives and real stories. It's about hurt feelings and lost dreams. It's about private desperation in souls who wonder if it will ever get better. It's about suffering.

It's about smiles and hugs at critical moments. It's about reconciliation. It's about hope and aspirations and struggles and achievements.

Constitutions may provide skeletons, but love and service and human struggles are the heart, flesh, and blood of ideal societies.

If we're studying the Constitution because we enjoy the mental exercise of political philosophy or the diversion of debating politics, we're missing the point.

Granted, constitutional structures are vital because they protect these things of which I speak, but are we remembering that and putting constitutional studies in context?

To borrow and rephrase the words of Yann Martel in his insightful novel Life of Pi, we take it upon ourselves to defend the Constitution.

We walk by widows deformed by leprosy begging for a few paise, walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and we think, "Business as usual."

But if we perceive a slight against the Constitution, it is a different story. Our faces go red, our chests heave mightily, we sputter angry words. The degree of our indignation is astonishing. Our resolve is frightening.

Yes, I've done it, too. In fact, I've spent much of my life doing it.

But I weary of debating the proper role of government. I'd rather live the proper role of citizens.

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Stephen Palmer is a marketing consultant and persuasive writer with KGaps Consulting, and a co-founder of The Center for Social Leadership.

He co-authored the New York Times bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity.

He is a liberal-arts graduate of George Wythe University and a graduate of the "non-traditional business school" Wizard Academy.

Stephen resides in Round Rock, Texas with his gorgeous wife Karina, awesome son Alex, and princess daughters Libby, Avery, and Laela. Stephen and Karina blog about their magical life on Palmer Journeys.