DEMOCRACY REVISITED
As it was conceived by our founding fathers, American democracy is a beautiful construct. It deserves better promotion than the government in washington is providing. The branches of government under the incompetent leadership of the Bush administration are behaving like amateur committees of a dysfunctional school board.

George Bush might make a reasonably capable school board president if he were free to hear what educators say about the issues and needs of a small community; and, even more important, if he were to become aware of the unvarnished and uncensored truths about education in his community, and if he were to have the courage to make decisions that would be right for the people in his community, whether the people liked it or not. He is obviously intellectually and emotionally incapable of the kind of leadership the presidency of the United States requires even in good times...and these are not good times. He is surrounded by petty officials whose personal interests compete. The Congress led by his own party is dysfunctional, and the Democrats in Congress are engaged more in turf wars than in cooperative activities that might possibly lead to solutions to problems.

I would be encouraged if I could believe the majority of Americans would rise up in the election year and demand responsible leadership. But I am not encouraged. I see members of Congress from both parties standing with fingers raised to see which way the political wind is blowing before they say what they believe should be done. They wait to know public opinion before they take a stand. Unfortunately public opinion is not always right. In fact, it has sometimes been dead wrong at critical junctures in history. A country needs leaders with the courage to do the right thing even when polls show the majority will disagree. If democracy is to work, we must assume elected officials will be permitted to know uncensored truths, the facts unvarnished by sensationalism; and knowing the truth, whether constituents know the truth or not, they will act responsibly.

The plan for democracy was not for our leaders to be constantly responding to poll reports but to intelligently study issues and to decide wisely. I want my leaders to decide on the basis of the rightness of a proposition not on its popularity. For example, stem cell research is either the right thing to do or it is not. Outlawing same-sex marriage either discriminates against a class of American citizens or it does not. The war in Iraq is either wrong or it is right. I want my representatives in government to decide on the basis of rightness, not on level of popularity among constituents or the dogma of any religion. I want my representatives, as Walter Lippman suggested, to put service to the truth above service to the people.