Elected officials are not kings, celebrities, saints, or owners of the republic. They work for us.

In They Work For Us, Jonas Richfield traces one urgent civic idea across history, psychology, faith, mortality, and modern public life: public power is borrowed, temporary, paid for by the people, and answerable to the people.

Beginning with Rome's res publica — the "public thing" — and moving through Cincinnatus, Caesar, divine right monarchy, the American founding, George Washington's refusal of a crown, political fandom, Christian nationalism, fear politics, self-enrichment, aging leaders, and the tools citizens already possess, this book asks a simple question with uncomfortable force: When did public servants become objects of worship?

Written for new citizens, students, tired voters, believers, skeptics, and anyone who has ever felt powerless in the face of politics, They Work For Us is civic education with a pulse. It argues against cynicism and against idolatry. It is not an argument for chaos, contempt, or mob rule. It is an argument for lawful ownership: voting, questioning, organizing, attending meetings, using records laws, serving on juries, contacting representatives, and remembering that the republic belongs to the people who are staying after every officeholder leaves.

Equal parts history lesson, moral argument, classroom text, and democratic wake-up call, They Work For Us is a reminder that no public official owns the public thing. The job is temporary. The power is borrowed. The country is ours.