Democracy in Action

Bill,.

Had to post this pic as an example of the democracy in action we love so well. This, of course is a scene from the successful campaign to put Wisconsin's Governor recall on the ballot.

While it is true that liberals are a distinct minority within the electorate, many of the ideas they espouse have broad support.

What we have at present is a system that is rigged, on both sides, to protect the entrenched. In my blue state congressional district, the current incumbent has been in place for 20 years, and clearly can serve as long as she wants. Across the country barely 10% of house districts are considered competitive, so it’s no surprise

that the remaining 90% produce members with no incentive to compromise.

In founding this blog together, you and I have agreed to a powerful implicit constraint. We have agreed to express our opinions as articulately and forcefully as we can but  to respect and engage each other enough to tolerate our substantial disagreements. That’s what’s missing from our current politics. Fortunately, the schmedrick responsible for that state of  affairs appears to be trailing badly in Florida

As far as the “latest bogeyman” Koch brothers, let me ask you a simple question. Do you think they and their allies are spending their money  out of some civic minded do goodedness? No, they are spending their money to protect their interests, as our political system gives them every right to do. And given their fabulous business success, it’s a mortal certainty that if throwing around the kind of money that they throwing around didn’t work, they wouldn’t do it. What our democracy also guarantees however is that  they will have to face the opposition that their political views inevitably generate.

Eli