Being an American is not a birthright, it’s a duty, and part of that duty is participation in our government.

Government of the people was not a new idea when the founders ratified the American Constitution in 1787, having written those famous words: “We the People.” Nearly 2,500 years ago, in the Greece of Socrates and Plato, the idea that we all have a stake in government began to form.

Ancient Athenians decided that they were the rightful possessors of the authority of rule. Democracy (a Greek word: demos kratia, literally “people power”) spread like a wildfire on a windy day. Everybody had a vote in ancient Athens, on every law, policy or judgment.

In contrast to today, political inactivity in ancient Greece was considered the aberration, not the norm like now. Indeed, it was expected that an Athenian citizen would volunteer to sit on juries or write and vote on laws. Greeks got in line early in the morning, when it was still dark out, to ensure they could serve on that day’s juries, committees and councils. They were actually disappointed if all the seats were filled before they got their chance.

Imagine that. The only time you see motivation like this in modern America is at a Black Friday sale, to get cheap crap for selfish desires, not to serve some public good.

The American Constitution was written to create not simply a plan for a government, but to create a metaphysical “space” of sorts within which citizens could be political. Politics entails interaction with others, and this interaction naturally creates conditions for the goal of politics: action.

When you get together with others, stuff that angers you comes up. This inevitably leads to a discussion of proposed solutions. And if Americans felt empowered as the founders intended them to feel, then the interaction wouldn’t end there; people would take action and do something about their perceived wrongs.

“I shall assume that your silence gives consent,” Plato said. When you allow the conversation to stop and don’t carry through on your ideas somehow, you have failed in your duty as an American. Your silence allows others to act on your behalf, without your input and interaction.

This has terrifying effects.

Greek democracy failed because the mob ruled, governed not by reason, but rather governed by passion. Socrates, himself one of the men responsible for the thriving political life of Athens, was condemned by a public moved to anger by a few men who hated Socrates. They did so because they believed Socrates’ constant inquiries into right and wrong was a threat to social stability.

How could the people be easily led, after all, if they were always wondering about what issues were good and what issues were bad?

The ancient Romans learned about the failure of public political involvement the hard way too. The Romans thought creating a republic would solve the difficulties of democracy and perhaps for awhile it did. But the Romans, like us now, discovered a new problem: When you disconnect yourself from government and trust it entirely to an elected few, those few will soon realize that citizens will vote for them so long as they’re given things to placate them.

Roman candidates for office usually threw giant parties, festivals and held athletic competitions for their voters — all of it paid for by the candidate or his supporters. This evolved into giving Romans free food and holding the famous gladiatorial games. Here, today, it’s bailouts and social services of every nature.

In Latin, the practice came to be known as “panem et circenses”: bread and circuses. Give the ignorant masses what they want and they’ll continue to vote for someone no matter what they do in office. This ought to sound familiar, because it happens here, today. Americans have failed in their duties as citizens. We are uninvolved and trust people we pay no attention to too much. The loss of a vibrant, active citizenry is killing us.

The lesson we learned from the ancients, it seems, is the wrong one — the same one that lead to their demise. America’s founders knew better, however, and the constitution they wrote provides the fertile ground for citizens to do what our ancient predecessors did not. When you boil it down, the American government was created to do two things: Protect your individual rights and do the things that we cannot do individually as citizens or states.

Clearly there will be arguments about these things, such as: Are there limits on free speech? Or, is there a role for government in health care since it’s something every American needs? Debates on these issues are precisely what the founders wanted, and this necessary involvement is what the Greeks and Romans lost, ultimately leading them on a path straight to the history books where they exist now only as bumps on the road to modernity, of interest only to academics and history geeks like me. America is doomed to the same fate if we don’t figure this out, and soon.

Want to fix America? Get involved with and become your government.