Just a reminder of one reason why the Founders established a republic, not a democracy:
“Democracy is the most vile form of government … democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”–James Madison, Often referred to in The Founders’ day as Father of the Constitution
And in speaking on how a republic differs from a democracy, Madison (in Federalist 10) makes an interesting observation, based on his own extensive knowledge of history,
The two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended.
The effect of the first difference is, on the one hand, to refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the purpose. On the other hand, the effect may be inverted. Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.
I rather think I know which effect Madison would observe in today’s “feddle gummint”–don’t you?
Your observation depended on your having enlightened your intellect by reading important historical data. I fear that far too many of our fellow citizens have no inclination toward such illumination; instead they are satisfied with watching American Idol and worrying if their favorite performer will make the next cut.
Thanks for your efforts. Happy 4th!
American Idol–*feh* Now, were you to have said, “So You Think You Can Dance”… *heh*
Yes, TF, as I have often mournfully sung on this blog, it’s likely that 90% of Americans have no idea what the Founders thought, believed, said, wrote or did. After all,
Perhaps it’s these very differences that explain the left’s constant attempt to move closer to “direct democracy.” To the uneducated, and to those jaded with “politics as usual” it might seem a better alternative than our “complex” system with the electoral college. After all, the electoral college is so “undemocratic.”
We have state after state with legislatures dominated by the Democratic party and by avowed leftists working to do an end run around the process today by “throwing their electoral votes” to the candidate that wins the “national popular vote.” Within the boundaries established by the Constitution perhaps, but certainly counter to its spirit.
Still, there’s no denying in most cases that the second case you describe has come to pass in our country. Corrupt, power hungry politicians have managed to get into office only to betray the citizens that elected them. We can see it on the national scale, and we can see it at the state level. States with some power of public referendum seem to have a chance of turning back the worst that their elected “representatives” do, but many of them also seem to choose the worst people to represent them.
What we have is far better than the alternative, but after only a few hundred years some of the seams are getting threadbare. I blame the pop culture and the “60s” generation for much of it.
Taking it back and re-stitching the seams will probably be pretty hard, but it needs to happen. Perhaps a Constitutional amendment to force turnover in the bureaucracy of government?
“Perhaps a Constitutional amendment to force turnover in the bureaucracy of government?”
Actually, we pretty much had that sort of system before the current Civil Service system was put in place. It was called “political patronage” or simply “spoils of victory”. But, of course, the Dhimmicraps especially have worked the current system back into that very spoils system. Clintoon fired 93 federal attorneys and no one blinked an eye. Bush II fired 7 and you’d have thought Armageddon had come to pass. And so it goes…
Rather than “a Constitutional amendment to force turnover in the bureaucracy of government” a simple amendment giving the People the right to allow Dr Tarr and Mr Fether hold a party in “honor” of both “feddle gummint” politicians *spit* and bureaucraps every year?