Contact Us

The CONCERNED CITIZENS GUIDE

to our AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Over a 35+ year career as a tax attorney I developed a strong interest in public policy including what sounds like an oxymoron: what makes a "good" tax, i.e. one that raises only the amount needed in the most efficient and fair way. And so when I stepped back from the active practice of law I decided to spend a few months researching what was going wrong with our American Democracy and ways to make it better. I hoped my background in trying to make sense out of hyper-technical laws and complex fact patterns, and then summarizing the key facts and arguments for non-tax people, would be an advantage in this rather quixotic quest, and then in working with a public policy organization.

I began withThe Federalist Papers, moved on to Forest McDonald’s Novos Ordo Seclorum, The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, and then to hundreds of other books and articles. Some days I read or skimmed two to three books, other books took several days to plow through; many were ponderous even for a tax attorney; most were too long; few had great insight; and many of the facts were surprising and even shocking.

As my intellectual curiosity turned into an obsession, and months turned into a year, and then two, gradually my analysis focused on the role “The People” can realistically play in a democracy, and as layer after layer unfolded, I realized this was one of the great questions of all time: can large groups of people govern themselves or must we rely on luck and benign, enlightened rulers; do human emotions and impulses and mass psychology make self-government impossible, or is there an innate courage, wisdom, decency and valor in the masses – or even just altruism and practicality -- that does not exist, reliably and over time, in leaders chosen not by the people but in some hereditary, religious, or forceful means. And every day I was struck by the number of people who struggled with these same core questions in earlier times.

Most of the time the questions seemed too big, the issues too complex, the amount of information too overwhelming and often too conflicting, and any solutions so elusive and remote that no one could make sense out of it all -- and there were days and even some weeks when I just put the project aside.

When people asked what I was doing, I would sometimes say I was “trying to save America,” an answer so unexpected and preposterous that most usually laughed, as if I said I was trying to invent a perpetual motion or anti-gravity machine. But then most all also said to "hurry up," wereally needed to find out what was going wrong, and soon! And one asked that I write the last "Solutions" chapters first.

In the end it was a rare gift to be free of day to day obligations and have the time and resources to pursue these big questions. And while no claims are made for profound new insights, this analysis – to be completed and published in the early 2011 -- summarizes and synthesizes many past thoughts with the hope it will help those who want to make a similar journey in the future – and more, that it will inspire others to act as well.

Over the years I have worked with many exceptionally talented and dedicated high-level tax attorneys, economists, and government officials and have no illusion that any real solutions will be easy or swift. But some of us have to start somewhere.

Please contact me at ccguide2010@gmail.com if you would like to participate, or provide suggestions, corrections, criticisms, or support and encouragement, or want to be notified when the material is published.

I will also be soliciting support from public policy organizations and foundations to coordinate and pursue the recommendations, and find ways to further identify the problems, research solutions, and build a consensus for action.

--Dan Rupp, July, 2010