Instapundit takes one of his inadvisable trips out of passive-aggressively quoting people and then pretending that he’s not actually saying anything to argue that the federal government is illegitimate.
“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This is boilerplate American history, and something that Americans—and, in particular, America’s political class—have long taken for granted.
But now things are looking a bit dicey. According to a recent Rasmussen Poll , only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed. On the other hand, Rasmussen notes, a full 63 percent of the “political class” believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed.
“Consent of the governed” is a standard whose meaning is debatable even for people who actually study political science - does it mean unanimous consent? Does it mean that all people in the nation have a say in electing their representatives? Does it allow for an executive with power to appoint officials with enforcement and lawmaking capacity? These are remarkably complex questions for which there is no satisfactory answer; I’m pretty sure that if anyone is going to answer them, it’s not the sample selection of a Rasmussen poll.
Of course, Rasmussen does have its “political class” designation, which is based on a rigorous three-question screening process which has the same sort of carefully measured calibration as the animatronic puppets at Chuck E. Cheese asking you if you like fun and pizza. If you don’t, I’m pretty sure you’re Harry Reid.
So, Rasmussen conducted an essentially meaningless poll showing that the vast majority of “Mainstream Americans” don’t believe that the government lives up to some nebulous and undefined standard of governance, which is as close to scientific evidence as Tea Partiers will ever come.
Let’s roll with it.