May 12, 2014

The word ‘democracy’ conjures images of dutiful citizens lined up at polling places to cast votes for candidates who will enact laws that the people believe will respect and protect their rights under the Constitution and its 27 Amendments. That’s cool.

But the U.S. has, since its founding, operated under what is properly termed a ‘Representative Democracy’ wherein the eligible voting populace chooses representatives according to their stated positions on important issues of the day. Okay, nobody’s perfect.

In other forms of democracy, such as referendums or plebicites, people vote directly on individual issues of common concern, usually among two competing choices. But U.S. courts now feel free to nullify the results of referendums, arbitrarily finding them illegal or unconstitutional. Remember, most judges are unelected appointees. Not cool.

In all democracies the success of an election, as determined by the absence of unintended consequences, (my definition) is dependent upon an informed electorate. Unfortunately, we now have; a) an uninformed electorate (thanks to government intrusion into the education process) and, b) a representative body corrupted by too-big-to-fail banks and lobbyists.

Where was the outrage when the then Speaker of the House proclaimed about Affordable Care: “We have to pass the Bill so that you can find out what is in it.”?

Democrat or Republican, it makes no difference. Political preference used to be ideological in nature. Now it is more like religion: dogmatic belief passed from generation to generation. No thinking required.

Sorry, folks, that is not democracy in action. It is management by intimidation of the uninformed, perpetrated by incompetent ideologues paid by lobbyists and compounded by media bias that panders to the fears of every minority and special interest group. We have devolved to the point where the inmates run the asylum. Scary!

Wm F. Buckley, Jr. got it right when he famously said: “We don’t need more voters. We need smarter voters.” Sadly, we are acquiring more but less informed voters who feel the job of government is to care for their every need and comfort. (Think Obama phone) If that sounds like Cuba and Venezuela – it is.

And our leaders have the chutzpa to criticize Putin and threaten meaningless ‘sanctions’. At least Putin is in control of his Orwellian Animal Farm. Our form of Democracy no longer works!

Revolution worked once. Maybe it’s time to give it another try.

* Let’s mobilize the thinking class to vote against every one of the current office-holding SOBs and their K Street flaneurs next time around and demand that the newly elected agree to term limits.

* Make every candidate for national office clearly state his position on major issues as determined by a non-partisan group such as League of Women Voters.

* Demand every candidate for national office name his first two choices for key Cabinet positions. (State, Defense, Treasury, Agriculture & Energy)

If that doesn’t work, it may be time to reread that Second Amendment. Once again the government is becoming the enemy.

You are welcome.