Even in our system of democratic government, we often lament that our elected officials are not truly representative of the socioeconomic status, the character, or the real-life concerns of the people at large. We complain about Washington “insiders”—people so accustomed to being in positions of influence that they have lost touch with the ordinary people for whom they are supposed to be working. All too often, our elected officials seem to form an “aristocracy” of power. Thomas Jefferson made the same complaint when he wrote in 1803:
“It will be for ever seen that of bodies of men even elected by the people, there will always be a greater proportion aristocratic than among their constituents.”
If we have been unable to correct this problem after over two hundred years of practice at being a republic of the people, by the people, and for the people, we have to wonder whether average citizens will ever be consistently represented by officials from their own walk of life, as Thomas Jefferson hoped they would be.
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