The satisfactions of American Democracy
So first let me wax grumpy for a moment.
I find myself surrounded these days by doomsayers — some of them on TV, some at the diner where I eat breakfast.
A lot of people are convinced that the American experiment is, at the very least, running out of steam.
Some think China is the next big thing, with its steamroller approach to industry and politics. Others think Americans have gotten too fat and self-indulgent to accomplish big things.
Others grinch and fume about the state of our national politics.
And it’s true that our particular style of democratic self-government is messy, noisy, crass, bombastic, and often about as thoughtful as a Jerry Bruckheimer film.
But there are times like these last two months, when we are reminded why the Founding Fathers set things up this way, and why they were such geniuses to do so.
First, the conservative Chicken Littles — socialism! new world order! stock up on ammo! — were shown the absurdity of their Glenn Beckian flutters when we held free, fair and orderly elections, resulting in yet another peaceful transition of power.
No, the Black Panther Party and Acorn didn’t snatch the ballot from your hand. No, there weren’t hordes of Hispanic illegals stuffing ballot boxes.
Then the liberal Humpty Dumpties — Obama’s a patsy! Republicans are fascists! Get thee to Canada! — found themselves watching an avalanche of bipartisan progress.
During the lame-duck session Congress moved on progressive priorities ranging from civil rights (don’t ask don’t tell) to disarmament (the START treaty) to an economic stimulus (the tax bill) and healthcare (the 9/11 responder bill).
Yet despite the election and despite all this work, the latest post-election poll shows that only about 13% of Americans approve of the work that Congress is doing.
My message to the other 87%? Get over it.
Politics are messy. Sorting out the nearly endless array of interests and demands that face our society is a brutally complex business, especially during a painful recession.
But our system remains the most transparent, fair, uncorrupted and enduring experiment in self-government in the history of the world.
There are, obviously, big challenges ahead. Taming the deficit. Extracting ourselves from two increasingly unpopular wars. Rebuilding the middle class. Contending with stiffer competition overseas.
Progress on those fronts won’t be smooth or graceful. Still, the last couple of months should stand as evidence that, warts and all, Washington can still get the job done.
Tags: politics
13% approval because despite the free elections those same Congressmen and Senators take care of their special interest bosses, make obviously illegal and certainly unethical moves repeatedly, ignore the clear cut language of the Constitution and Bill or Rights and work to obfuscate and twist the not so clear language. They refuse to take responsibility for ongoing problem issues that they created, rush to take what amount to bribes from the largest bidder and ignore the pleas of their constituents.
Not all of them are worthless bums, true. But overall they are far, far less effective than they could be. In fact their chief skill seems to be in spending our money, or rather approving the borrowing of trillions of dollars and tossing it to the wind.
I admire your ability to have an upbeat attitude, but ignoring the elephant in the room doesn’t fix anything.
The sun finally set on the super-majority-minus-one rule.
Now, the shellacked-liberals and moderates-who-jumped-ship”. will attempt to re-brand themselves as the “no-labels”.
Appropriate, when you think about it.
Brian M.,
I do believe you do point out the main danger we face as a nation and here in the Adirondacks – negativity.
It is so easy and tempting to think everyone but you and me, and maybe even you, is a crook, especially if they happen to be elected.
Everyone has become a back seat driver and a Monday morning quarterback. The charge includes me.
I’ll leave it at that for now.
I find it extremely difficult to be optimistic.
The economic picture is ugly. Wealth is increasingly concentrated in the few. Arguments about equity and fairness aside, practically speaking, this is resulting in a society of haves and have nots. That is likely to cause today’s political rhetorical about class warfare to morph into a more corrosive social conflict.
The political picture is uglier. Many of the issues that confront the nation – out-of-control healthcare costs, the deficit, a deteriorating infrastructure, substandard education — have been obvious and neglected for quite a while. During that period of neglect, vested interests have become more entrenched making it harder (if not impossible) to address these problems.
Our system has served us well through the 20th century. But, past performance does not guarantee future success. The system, with its concentrations of economic and political power, will almost certainly endure but I remain pessimistic about what that will yield.
A real question: to what degree does our system require that we fuss, bicker, obstruct, shove, exaggerate, bombast, and just fume at each other in order to get stuff done? I agree with you, Brian, really good stuff came out of Washington this session. And I really want to think we’re getting it done. But I can’t shake the visual image of all those firefighters barging into the office of an Oklahoma Senator to demand that he back off his obstructions. Is that really what we have to do? How exhausting this system is.
Mayflower –
Your question gets at one of the problems of American democracy. People expect running a country to be anything less than exhausting.
But why? In most societies, people shoot each other on a fairly regular basis, or throw each other in prison. The questions these politicians are wrestling with are brutally difficult.
Their own backgrounds and histories make understanding and compromise hard.
I guess in the end, the answer to your question is Yes, this is about as good as it gets. Read any account of any democracy — from ancient Greece to the Weimar Republic — and the conclusion is unavoidable.
People are messy and noisy and emotional. At its very best, so too will there government be.
Brian, NCPR
Concur with nay-sayers, especially Bill G., above.
After the 1929 Crash and subsequent Depression, this nation reorganized itself into one that corrected many abuses and provided for success in war and then 30 years of prosperity without a major financial crisisl
Post-1975, we have gotten more and more economically stratified, and suffered several minor, and one huge, financial crises. And the voters have apparently been convinced that this is a good thing, rejecting modestly successful financial and regulatory programs, in effect re-electing Herbert Hoover.
We seemed to have lost the ability to self-correct.
Face it, Brian. You just can’t wax grumpy as well as your commentators. Love the turn of phrase, though.
First, the problem with our democracy is not partisanship. It’s corporate control over government, which is why so many people feel distant from government.
Second, this country was not founded or built by people who “got over it.” It was built by people who, when they didn’t like things, fought to change them. The Founding Fathers did not “get over” what they felt was injust colonial rule. The Constitution they wrote implored us continually fight for a “more perfect union,” not to be complacent. That document even permitted future generations to dismantle the system the Founding Fathers themselves created.
From abolitionists to suffragettes to the New Dealers to the black civil rights activists to the Great Society architects to the gay equal rights activists, there hasn’t been a single social or economic improvement in the history of this nation achieved by people looking at injustice and “getting over it.” The recent repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is a great example of “whiners” trying to fix injustice rather than “getting over it.”
America’s greatness did not simply happen. It was made.
Great post and last sentence, Brian.
Once upon a time, there was a good reason for “American Exceptionalism”.
I’m still shaking my head that this lame-duck Congress got anything done. Then, not only was my half-full glass blown to smithereens, but bless those elephants who voted to do the right thing – TWICE!! – repeal DADT, and cut strategic arms.
I too, and proud of our democratic system.
It seems most here agree, in spirit at least, with the idea that whiners, fanatics, fringe kooks, etc. all deserve a voice. The present separation that exists between right and left is really no greater than what existed between other parties and groups in the past. What we have today is nothing compared the Wilsons imprisonment of “The Wobblies”, FDR’s imprisonment of Japanese on the west coast, the old strike breakers and union thugs, the Weathermen, the communists of the 20’s and 30’s, the various other groups that were the object of political persecution or were working for or against a gov’t violently. We have very, very few truly violence prone groups these days, we should be thankful for that.
I have to agree with Brians assessment that corporate control appears to be a large problem today. The surprising thing to me is that so many on the right only see corporate leftwingers and those on the left only see corporate rightwingers. I would hope in the coming year more people open their eyes to fact both sides are represented pretty equally and that many of those movers and shakers play both sides for their max effectiveness. It’s simply not as easy as it once was to figure out who Dr. Evil is.
There is value in reminding ourselves occasionally that this is as good as it gets.
I sleep tonight knowing that if I call the police someone will come and they won’t ask me what religion I am before they come and I don’t have to worry about them killing me or dragging me off. I also know the current people in our government are relatively close to what people actually want, even if I don’t agree with them much of the time. It is a real blessing.
I grew up in South Dakota in a very conservative family. In high school we wrote to our Senators, I wrote to our Senator at the time George McGovern (dating myself here). I wrote him a very critical letter about how I thought he was almost a communist because he was Castro’s puppet. So anyway he takes the time to actually write me back, and its not some form letter. He addresses my points in a very respectful way, point by point, he actually convinced me that we should engage Cuba! Anyway we don’t always have to agree with people to see the decency as citizens and good politicians who are doing there best. I think this happens in both conservatives and liberals in this country, we just need to let it happen sometimes.
George McGovern was a WWII hero, by the way.
So was Joe McCarthy.
Probably shouldn’t go there, Bret. I just cut n pasted from Wikipedia below, but if that’s not good enough, the truth is out there about McCarthy’s war record…
Anyway, a more pertinent threadjack for you is here. They really are coming after your pension. And, in all seriousness, I’m sorry about that: http://www.slate.com/id/2278795/pagenum/all/#p2
Here’s Tail Gunner Joe:
It is well documented that McCarthy lied about his war record. Despite his automatic commission, he claimed to have enlisted as a “buck private.” He flew twelve combat missions as a gunner-observer, earning the nickname of “Tail-Gunner Joe” in the course of one of these missions.[14] He later claimed 32 missions in order to qualify for a Distinguished Flying Cross, which he received in 1952. McCarthy publicized a letter of commendation which he claimed had been signed by his commanding officer and countersigned by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, then Chief of Naval Operations. However, it was revealed that McCarthy had written this letter himself, in his capacity as intelligence officer. A “war wound” that McCarthy made the subject of varying stories involving airplane crashes or antiaircraft fire was in fact received aboard ship during a ceremony for sailors crossing the equator for the first time.[13][15]