The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it’s the sand of the Colosseum.  — Gladiator

We are not subjects, we are citizens.  The power of our nation does not reside in marble halls on the Potomac, nor does it reside in the steel and glass towers of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Dallas.  It resides in the homes of the citizens, the ones that keep the wheels turning and turn out to vote.  We are right, indeed duty bound, to demand that our elected servants and their salaried minions recognize their subordination to us, and we should vigorously resist any effort to erode our primacy.