Government by the People
Constitutional democracy--the kind we have in the United States--is exceedingly hard to win, equally hard to sustain, and often hard to understand without rigorous study. The form of constitutional democracy that has emerged in the United States requirescontinual participation by caring, tolerant, and informed citizens. The framers of our Constitution warned that we must be vigilant in safeguarding our rights, liberties, and political institutions. But to do this, we first have to understand these institutions and the forces that have shaped our political and constitutional systems. American politics is now in a volatile period, with voters willing to switch back and forth between parties, and with the parties trying to find a basis for a new and lasting majority coalition. Although our defense policy changed with the collapse of communism, the world has not suddenly become a safe place in which to live. Regional strife and terrorism continue, and the United States has entered a period of reassessment of its role in the world, in the United Nations, in regional defense organizations like NATO, and in its economic relations with other countries. Although we constantly turn to government and elected officials with problems and requests, we are still highly critical of their shortcomings. A recurrent theme of this book is the absolute need for politics and politicians, despite the widespread tendency to criticize nearly everything political. Contempt for government and politics is expressed here in the United States and abroad, yet politics and partisan competition are the life blood by which free people can achievetheideals of a government by the people. We hope you will come away from reading this book with a richer understanding of American politics, government, and the job of politicians, and we hope you will participate actively in making your constitutional democracy more vital and responsive to the urgent problems of the twenty-first century.