96 - Democratic Institutions: Time to Take Sides?

[oceanhahn]

So I needed a laugh tonight, so I went over to RightWingNews and found this little site. This got me thinking, "So who, in the United States, DO people 'respect' over all others?" Should it be the President-- the one person in the executive branch people actually vote for? The Senate and Congress, who are supposedly there to offer oversight on the

Comments

True generally.

[oceanhahn]

Yesm this is another thing with I think completely undermines the concept of nation building in a democracy. When people vote based on whether they "like the guy" or not, rather than on whether he or his staff have any idea how to run a country. "I don't like the other guy because he's creepy," "He has a nice haircut," "...to piss off my dad," "he has 'family values'" and "If I don't I'm afraid his running mate will come to my house and beat me to death with a shovel" are some of my all-time favourite irrelevant factors that come into play. These, as compared to, say, "his energy policy will ensire that every man, woman and child in the country will be freezing in the dark by 2015," "he has a personal history of financial ineptitude" or "I agree with his ideas on welfare reform" at least.

People "voting with their hearts" is all wall and good on a moralistic, fantasy world where people can be held to their word and chosen based on merit, but sadly such a world ceased to exist when Robert Walpole came to power in 1721. Instead, I might encourage people to put a little thought into that one vote they get and perhaps think about what the person they give it to stands for. Honestly, if a person can make an argumement that supports voting for Hitler, then at least they arent "just voting for Hitler" and mave put some thought into it. I won't neccessarily agree with them, but having the right to make bad choices is what democracy is all about.
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I just wish people would make some new ones.