Our democracy is doomed because voters and elected office holders are solely concerned with their own self interests.
Professor Alexander Taylor’s prediction, in the 1780s, that democracies can’t last was prescient. He maintained that “[Democracy] can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.â€
Doesn’t this describe what is happening in the United States today? Haven’t we voted to use money from the public treasury for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, subsidized housing, and student loans that are fiscally unsustainable? Currently, there are plans for a national health insurance program; another potential government boondoggle. There’s little chance of convincing a majority of citizens not to support candidates, who bring entitlement programs to them.
The loophole in the Constitution, not providing term limits for public office, allows individuals to make a career of politics. A career, as a member of Congress, has become attractive because of the financial benefits, the media attention, and the generous perks. The cost of campaigning for office in Congress has increased steadily to the point that candidates must raise millions of dollars to run for membership in this elite club. Money has become the essential ingredient to enter the election process, thereby reducing competition against incumbents. The other manifestation of this sad state of affairs is the increase in the length of time campaigns are conducted. Incumbents spend more and more time away from their offices raising money and campaigning. Legislators fulfilling obligations to campaign contributors are compromising their duties of office. Special interests have seized the representation owed constituents. Career politicians, to preserve their jobs, harm this nation in many ways i.e. wasteful earmarks, gerrymandering, voting the party line, hindering confirmation of presidential nominees, and filibustering worthwhile legislation. One of their most destructive, vote-getting activities is pandering to voters’ zeal for public funds by passing entitlement programs that will bankrupt this nation. There isn’t any possibility of convincing incumbents to end their careers.
One method of stopping the destructive momentum that is transforming this Republic is to limit the terms of public office. There are only a few procedures for establishing constitutional term limits and all are nearly impossible to accomplish.
·      A Constitutional Amendment is realistically unachievable. When there were only 13 states, the Founders of this country purposely made passing amendments difficult. Difficult became insurmountable now that there are 50 states.
·      In Article V of the Constitution, there is a provision for convening a Constitutional Convention. Members of Congress will not approve a constitutional convention that would limit their careers. To date, Congress has never approved a Constitutional Convention.
·      States are unable to limit the terms of office of their federal representatives and senators following the 1995 Supreme Court decision of U.S. v. Thornton.
·      Lastly, there is the extremely remote possibility that the Supreme Court would hear and rule in favor of a case seeking term limits on the basis that members of Congress are representing themselves rather than representing their constituents and/ or states as specified in the Constitution.
It is agonizing watching short sighted citizens and career politicians slowly smother this wonderful nation. I realize that my well intentioned effort to reform the government was an impossible dream. My attempts to persuade Americans to change can be compared to my chances of winning the lottery, but I did buy a ticket. It is a pity that future generations won’t enjoy the quality of life and freedoms that I enjoyed.
Sadly, in the face of these incontrovertible facts, I’m ending my quest to make this a more perfect union, by discarding the Democracy Conservative Foundation, abandoning its web site, and discontinuing my weekly blogs. Thanks for your support. I wish all of you the very best.
Art Woodrow
THE DEMOCRACY CONSERVATOR FOUNDATION
3 users commented in " Our Democracy Is Doomed "
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I fully agree with your views of the state of our current political process, however I disagree with your views regarding these alleged spending programs.
You neglected to mention that, aside from young lives lost, we’ve spent 1 trillion dollars so far on a war whose “merits” were fed to Congress by the Bush administration’s lies, embarrassing and causing the resignation of the African American republican who should have been elected president in 2000, the honorable Colin Powell.
You also failed to mention the 500 billion dollars in bailout money Mr. Bush gave Wall Street without any oversight. Those dollars were meant stimulate lending but these firms just kept the money, or settled foreign obligations.
Healthcare is not a luxury nor a priviledge, at least not as the rest of the first AND second world nations see it. It’s time to invest in life instead of death.
You are not well informed about the Article V convention option. Congress has refused to obey the Constitution; it is clearly legally required to call a convention when the one and only requirement specified in Article V is met; it has been met for a long time, with some 750 applications from all 50 states. Americans are terribly misinformed or made victims of propaganda from political forces afraid of a convention. Learn all the facts at foavc.org and become a member of the national, nonpartisan group with the sole mission of making Congress obey the Constitution and give us the first convention, where state delegates could propose amendments that would reform the political system, but would still have to be ratified by 3/4 of states.
Besides pursuing an Article V convention there are a number of other tactics to save American democracy; check out my book Delusional Democracy – Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government at delusionaldemocracy.com.
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