THE DEMOCRACY DILEMMA

'We the people', the words that open the preamble to the US Constitution "were not conceived as a catch call for mass democracy. This nebulous term refers to what we would describe as the 'body politic.'"

Nick Bryant in his book 'The Forever War' writes, "The distributions of the 55 male delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia focused on how that body politic should be restrained in an intricately designed straight jacket." The founding fathers did not care for the word.

After the final defeat of the British at the battle of Yorktown in 1787, the Founding Fathers were alarmed by how newly independent Americans were exercising too much say in the running of the country. Despite being amended 27 times the country's operating manual still includes no positive assertion of the right to vote. The 15th amendment, ratified after the Civil War, frames it only in a negative manner:

However, since its conception, defining who has 'the right to vote' has been a political ploy in the hands of politicians, intent on their pursuit of power.