Representative democracy? Oh, that's so messy and cumbersome. It takes forever to get anything done, and those darn "citizens" are such pesky louts.
Democratic North Carolina Gov. Bev. Perdue now claims she was "joking" when she said maybe we should suspend congressional elections for a couple of years so those wonderful incumbents could focus on the economy without the partisan bickering spurred by re-election worries. Maybe so, but her tone didn't suggest it, and she asked others to support the idea. This was the second time in 24 hours a prominent Democrat called for less democracy. Former administration budget chief Peter Orszag argued that Congress should rely more on independent commissions and the kind of automatic triggers now being faced by the Super Committe.
His idea is much milder than Perdue's — those commissions and triggers would, after all, be set by Congress itself, and therefore could be undone by Congress if need be — but the fact that you have former White House advisors and current Democratic governors now chattering idly about how to insulate Congress from angry voters is not, shall we say, a happy trend.
[. . .]
What's most amazing to me about her and Orszag's suggestions is how both take Congress's gutlessness as an absolute fact of political life, to the point where Perdue thinks it'd be less disruptive to temporarily suspend America's system of constitutional democracy than to ask Democrats and Republicans to cast a tough vote on, say, a big new stimulus package.
And what we can see in a big way in Washington we can see in small ways in hudreds of communities across the country, like Peekskill, N.Y.:
Want to get yourself thrown out of a Peekskill City Council meeting? Start clapping.
After a series of boisterous meetings, Mayor Mary Foster is trying to bring decorum back to the chamber by banning clapping.
“We've had to end meetings because the disruptions just became too unruly,” Foster said.
However, critics of the measure spoke with 1010 WINS' Al Jones and said they felt like they were being treated like kindergarteners.
Mayor Foster argued that the rule is just another attempt to get through meetings with less interruption, but critics in Peekskill were reading the Declaration of Independence in protest.
“You think that a no clapping rule is really going to make these issues go away?” asked community activist Darrel Davis.
By all means, go to the council meetings -- they are, more's the pity, "public" -- but sit there quietly and just absorb what your betters are saying like good little subjects. Then you can go home and muble "good diea" when a wise and caring leader tells you to stay home insteading of voting for a couple of years.
This attitude, alas, is not rare. I've talked to hundreds of aspiring politicians over the years, and they all talk about wanting to improve the community and "giving back." But you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how many just want to be in charge, and let people know they're in charge, and really, really, really don't want any crap from the great unwashed.
