L'etat, C'est Nous

So, what are elections about, anyhow?

To Louis XIV of France, elections and parliaments were irrelevant. "L'etat, c'est moi," he declared.

We started our nation with a different idea.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident," we declared, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

In this country, that is what elections are about: to grant or withhold the consent of the governed. That is, in today's America, the consent of all its citizens, each of whom has the right to vote.

Or, to put it another way, "l'etat, c'est nous."