A Short Political Rant: Part One
"Since there can be no consensus on difficult issues like global warming and healthcare, let us eliminate those decisions that are the product of public consensus. If the American people won't arrive at the right conclusions and act accordingly, those decisions should be made for them."
The statement above is, too often, the way in which “enlightened” people tend to view the public. Democracy, then, is an illusion maintained to pacify the masses so their betters can get on with the business of governing. The people are simply the ox that grinds the wheat, that makes the bread, that feeds us all—politicians first, of course—the rest can graze on the leftovers.
Why should anyone believe that giving great political power to a relative few people is anything other than the antithesis of democracy? The answer; because it requires very little effort to say to someone else “Hey, you solve the problem, I'm busy with kids, working and bills! That is, after all, why we hire politicians to represent us. Isn't that what you're supposed to do in a representative form of democracy?”
So, what' so bad about giving our leaders the necessary tools to “get er done?” This isn't Nazi Germany!
The fact that Germany was one of the most enlightened countries in the world prior to World War I or the rise of Hitler and World War II, the Holocaust and the deaths of tens of millions of wartime casualties, is beside the point. Sure, Stalin killed many millions more and Chairman Mao killed somewhere between 35 to 70 million, but that was the olden days, decades ago! People are different today, more enlightened, better educated. That couldn't happen here—not here—could it?
If America is half as corrupt as portrayed by some on the Left and the Right, the conclusion should be obvious.
That's because this isn't a Left/Right issue. It's the simple reality of history. Only a child thinks that human nature has changed so drastically that what history teaches, as far back as can be traced, will somehow, today, be different. Power must be checked and balanced. That is the way our government was designed, to make the process of governing cumbersome. The Constitution, as the highest law in the land, intentionally restrains the accumulation of powers by the government and carefully enumerates it's boundaries—in order to protect the people—from their government! Ignore it at your own peril.
The statement above is, too often, the way in which “enlightened” people tend to view the public. Democracy, then, is an illusion maintained to pacify the masses so their betters can get on with the business of governing. The people are simply the ox that grinds the wheat, that makes the bread, that feeds us all—politicians first, of course—the rest can graze on the leftovers.
Why should anyone believe that giving great political power to a relative few people is anything other than the antithesis of democracy? The answer; because it requires very little effort to say to someone else “Hey, you solve the problem, I'm busy with kids, working and bills! That is, after all, why we hire politicians to represent us. Isn't that what you're supposed to do in a representative form of democracy?”
So, what' so bad about giving our leaders the necessary tools to “get er done?” This isn't Nazi Germany!
The fact that Germany was one of the most enlightened countries in the world prior to World War I or the rise of Hitler and World War II, the Holocaust and the deaths of tens of millions of wartime casualties, is beside the point. Sure, Stalin killed many millions more and Chairman Mao killed somewhere between 35 to 70 million, but that was the olden days, decades ago! People are different today, more enlightened, better educated. That couldn't happen here—not here—could it?
If America is half as corrupt as portrayed by some on the Left and the Right, the conclusion should be obvious.
That's because this isn't a Left/Right issue. It's the simple reality of history. Only a child thinks that human nature has changed so drastically that what history teaches, as far back as can be traced, will somehow, today, be different. Power must be checked and balanced. That is the way our government was designed, to make the process of governing cumbersome. The Constitution, as the highest law in the land, intentionally restrains the accumulation of powers by the government and carefully enumerates it's boundaries—in order to protect the people—from their government! Ignore it at your own peril.