I love our country. I love Democracy. However, I'm frustrated with the unwillingness of elected leadership to follow the desire of "the people". I like what Glenn Beck says, I'll paraphrase: "We the people are in charge, not the elected officials and like it or not, it seems that once 'the people' have spoken our leaders should act accordingly". I know that's pretty bold but I like it. Its seems right. When I think about elections, I don't vote to give complete power to someone for four years. If that elected official is not doing what he or she said, kick'em out! Give me a pitch fork!
I've often wondered why so few participate in national elections. I do have a theory; maybe it feels pointless to many. After all, why vote for change when change never comes? The Democrats took congress during the last election cycle and were going to clean up Washington & end the war in Iraq. What have they done? Nothing. Even today, 66% of our nation feels that we should not be in Iraq and 62% feel a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq is in order (http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm). So, why are we still in Iraq? This same type of situation is true for off-shore drilling. 74% of our nation supports drilling off-shore as a partial fix for energy prices (http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1519). This may or may not be a good solution but like it or hate it, its the will of the people. So what is Congress doing? Look at Ms. Pelosi's stance on drilling:
On the Stephanopoulos Sunday news show, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi underscored her refusal to allow a drilling vote. Asked about the Republican rebellion in the House, she said, “What you saw in the Congress this week was the war dance of the handmaidens of the oil companies.” She went on to say, “We are spending all of this time on a parliamentary tactic, when nothing less is at stake than the planet, the air we breathe, our children breathe.”
I can't disagree with her argument but 2/3 of Americans want to drill. Make a more persuasive argument or get out of the way.
This begs the question: can elected leaders really go by what "the people" want? I'll agree that decisions can NOT always be made based on the demands of the people. But thats precisely the problem. There is NO REAL system for sounding off and giving our leaders direction. Thus, elected leadership does whatever it wants and the people are told to get in line. Oh, wait. we do have a system. We get the privalige of voting every four years on our leaders, right? Are we still in Iraq? Do we still have an economic problem? Are any elected leaders doing what polls indicate people want? Nope. Congress is deadlocked. Stuck. The system works real well...
If "we the people" were really allowed to input on decision making, would we always get it right, do the right thing, or demand the right course of action? No. But that is not the point. Democracy does not necessarily require the "right" anything. It does however require participation and action by both its citizens and elected officials. Which we don't currently have and may not have for quite sometime. But I see this lack of participation and ownership by US citizens as systematic of a failed government.
What say you?
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