First principles? Like Consent of the Governed?


"The conservatism of the Declaration asserts self-evident truths based on the laws of nature and nature’s God. It defends life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It traces authority to the consent of the governed."

From   "The Mount Vernon Statement",    February, 2010

And yet half-a-million-plus Americans have been Governed Without Consent, for more than two centuries, their participation in the national consensus denied, their inalienable (innate, inherent, intrinsic) right as free citizens to a fair and equal vote with the rest of their countrymen in determining the affairs of the nation unrecognized and un-respected. Artificial, anachronistic, and arbitrary provisions notwithstanding, under the First Principle of "Consent of the Governed", the national legislature has no legitimate right or authority to assert Absolute Power, as of 1801 (as in "Congress shall have the power ... to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such District"), than the British Parliament had in 1766 to assert similar power over a similarly unrepresented minority (at the time) of the British nation. No legitimate basis exists to exclude otherwise eligible citizens from full participation in the national debate and concensus simply because of location or proximity. Concepts such as court eunuchs and royal demense are antiquated and feudal, with no place in a government conceptually based on participatory principles such as "All men are created equal". Treating fellow citizens and countrymen in effect as house-slaves, a lower caste, outcasts, expatriates, pariahs and/or exiles, simply because of the location of their residence, diminishes the honor of the nation, and the legitimacy of the government.