Who Governs in America?

After watching the State of the Union and all the responses, I find that I am sick and tired of hearing about 'governing'. Every News show, every soundbite in the media talks about 'We were elected, and now we just have to govern.' Or some such nonsense. When exactly did this change occur in all the capitals around this nation that our representatives now think of themselves as our governors?
Yes, back during the Constitutional Convention one can read of some using the term--usually the Federalists like Hamilton I have to point out--but not nearly to the extent that one hears it today. When I hear the term 'govern', I think of kings, dictators, despots, commissars, czars (is there something to this, given our current penchant to dubbing un-elected bureaucrats with this title?), and totalitarians in general. Not my congressman 

Video: Niall Ferguson-Fiscal Crises and Imperial Collapses: Historical Perspective

By far, this is one of the best videos I have seen regarding our current sovereign debt crisis. In May, 2010, the Peterson Institute for International Economics sponsored a lecture by Niall Ferguson, of Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics on the history of sovereign debt crises entitled: Fiscal Crises and Imperial Collapses: Historical Perspective on Current