Hi readers. The cats and I were thinking about how, if we didn’t have representative democracy we could deal with priorities directly by national referendum what with 21st Century communications. Decide important matters directly based on what Slippery Sal the Waterfront Gal, Professor Hoodwink, Carlos the hamburger flipper and Daddy Warbucks all want for the best of everyone.
- Would you rather have $1 per gallon gasoline and go back to driving Rocket 88s and Giddyup 409s, or have a war somewhere?
- Would you rather have a job, or have everything imported from China?
- Would you rather deal with a multi-national bank, or have your financial affairs with a state or local credit union?
- Would you rather have a War on Drugs and more prisoners in the slammers than anywhere else in the world, or would you prefer to let people make some lousy decisions in their personal lives?
- Do you feel more threatened by the Mafia, foreign terrorists, or Homeland Security?
- Would you rather force US parmaceutical companies to sell prescription drugs at the same price they’re sold in Mexico and Canada, ot let them rape you and whatever kind of insurance you have?
That sort of thing.
I’m not suggesting it’s right, what regular people would want from the government, but it’s sort of a cultural given that it’s what we’ve always been led to believe this democracy thing is all about.
If the most people in the country want, say, to put severe restrictions on pharmaceutical companies and force them to price medications at the same rate they’re available in Canada or Mexico, heck, someone ought to ask them. After all, it’s a government of the people, by the people and for the people we’ve been told.
And if the most people want to move the seat of government to Omaha, Nebraska, someone ought to find out it’s what they want and do it.
But of course it ain’t going to happen. Because whatever we might have been led to believe, this thing in Washington DC we call a democracy isn’t anything remotely similar to a democracy unless the definition of the word democracy gets some twisting and turning, wringing out.
Nothing wrong with lying about it and saying it is, but recognizing our own lies to ourselves might help us deal with what we actually do have instead of democracy. Might allow us to just laugh it all off, as it richly deserves.
I have a feeling if there’d been any national referendums beginning sometime around 1950 until now this country would look a lot different than it does now. Might actually look better in some ways, though we’d have a lot more Rocket 88s going down the highways.
Old Jules
So Far From Heaven 