Newt Gingrich: Back to Government of, by, and for the People

Our greatest challenges are to re-engage Americans in self-governance, to replace the current bureaucratic, rules-dominated and elite-controlled system with a model that is government of the people, for the people and by the people.

By Newt Gingrich

My involvement in public policy and government has made me more convinced that the current system cannot be sustained. It must be completely rethought and reformed.

Modern government is becoming more distant from the people ever since the 1870s and 1880s when the civil service movement was created. This has resulted in a continual transfer of power from the people towards the professional classes. These professionals create guilds to protect themselves from the American people and consolidate their power. This modest reform movement started out as a small one. It has since grown to a massive bureaucratic empire that has placed barriers at every level to prevent the American people running their country.

This rigid, self-protecting, bureaucratic monstrosity of bureaucrats is a threat to freedom and the ability for people to govern themselves. It has become a complex web of rules and regulations that protect bureaucrats’ power against the will and interests of the people.

This fortress of elite privilege represents a break with the old patterns of American self-government in the first century. Think about the power of Abraham Lincoln to create a government that reflects the principles and values that won him the election.

Lincoln was able completely reform the federal government in order to make sure that federal officials were supportive of the Union and the Civil War. The majority of his first year was spent appointing support staff, from tariff houses to post offices to treasury posts. The federal government was a reflection of the principles, values and priorities of the president elected by the American people at the end of 1861.

Lincoln understood the importance self-government. He declared at Gettysburg: “that we here dedicate ourselves that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln believed that policies must be determined by the people. He asserted: “In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.”

President Ronald Reagan understood Lincoln’s principles and described the real American Revolution in his October 1964 speech “A Time for Choosing:”

“Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: `We the People.’ `We the People’ tell the government what to do; it doesn’t tell us. `We the People’ are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which `We the People’ tell the government what it is allowed to do. `We the People’ are free. This belief has been the underlying basis for everything I’ve tried to do these past 8 years.”

Twenty-five years later, President Reagan returned to the same theme in his farewell address.

“I’ve had my share of victories in the Congress, but what few people noticed is that I never won anything you didn’t win for me. They never saw my troops, they never saw Reagan’s regiments, the American people. You won every battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action. Well, action is still needed. If we’re to finish the job.”

At the foundation of America, the idea that the people were the key to success was established. In his farewell address President George Washington recognized that: “the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue.”

Philip K. Howard has written a new book that explains why we need to return government to the people. “Not Accountable” He argues that “public employee unions have undermined democracy and should be unconstitutional. Voters elect a president, governors and mayors who have been disempowered from fixing lousy schools, firing rogue cops or managing public services sensibly. … Americans are frustrated with unresponsive and wasteful government, but the parties tend to debate policies and ignore what everyone knows is the inept operating machinery of government.”

Former President Donald Trump has proposed a first step in relocating government and returning power directly the American people. He suggested that New Hampshire be the next state to go. “the ultimate form of local control. You want to have the parents pick the principal and superintendents.” He also pledged to South Carolina “we will protect parents’ rights. We’ll bring them back. That includes the direct election of public school principals by the parents. If any principal is not getting the job done, the parents should have the right and be able to vote or to fire them and to select someone else that will do the job properly.” 

The greatest challenges facing our time, greater than China’s looming threat, are to reengage the American people in self-governance, to replace the current bureaucratic and established, rules-dominated system, with a model that returns government to the people, by and for the people.

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