Democracy


On the nature of appealing to the masses

"Americans are obnoxious to the charge of tolerating gross personalities, a state of things that encourages bodies of men in their errors while it oppresses individuals, and which never produced any good of any sort."

James Fenimore Cooper wrote those words in 1835 during a massive expansion of the electorate. He was saying, Americans are susceptible to demagogs, and being susceptible they will allow demagogs to create policies that oppress the individual in the service of placating the baser wishes of the ignorant and uneducated masses. In other words, Cooper was afraid that too large a voting public would allow or force politicians to pander to the wishes of an ignorant and uninformed populace in order to get elected and remain in office. The remedy for Cooper's misgivings turned out to be obligatory and free basic education in America, but I find his sentiment prescient.

Today we have Cooper's fear made manifest, but in reverse. The government fosters ignorance in a patently corrupt endeavor to circumvent the basic tenets of American government. The Republican party has fostered policies in education that weaken public institutions on favor of private ones, something that has been progressing as part of the Republican agenda since 1980. Twenty-five years after President Reagan took office, we have an electorate that is less knowledgeable and less aware of the importance of politics than preceding generations. Concurrently, since the removal of the Fairness Doctrine as a broadcast requirement enforced by the Federal Communications Commission, political discourse in America has plumbed new depths of inanity and depravity while fostering an "us versus them" mentality among both political parties. Consequently, the Bush administration is able to foster fear among the electorate and the American people in general by constantly reminding us of the events of September 11, 2001. Further, they link myriad failed foreign policies and blatantly Unconstitutional domestic policies to September 11, and have so far been successful in scaring enough people into supporting the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, broad based wire tapping, the use of torture in interrogations, and (worst of all) the suspension of habeas corpus.

The remedy for America's current dire political situation is (as it was for Cooper's fears) obligatory and free basic education for all Americans. But we must also insure that the quality of education is sufficient for the creation of citizens who will understand our Constitution and be able to vote according to that understanding. In the short term we must find the necessary backbone to hold our elected representatives accountable not only to their constituents (whether that is the American people, as state, or a small district) but to the Constitution.

Cooper knew this too: "Power always has the most to apprehend from its own illusions." The administration and political party currently in power will not change their policies and tactics on their own. They believe their own propaganda, and they are willing to let the fear of terrorist attacks in America be the catalyst for the destruction of American democratic freedoms. Thus Americans are in more danger right now from their own federal government than they are from a terrorist attack. A state of existence that I am sure terrorists all over the world are enjoying.

Some pundit wrote following September 11 "Irony is dead." I beg to differ. Irony is very much alive, it's just being noticed and enjoyed by people who do not live in fear.

Posted: Sun - October 8, 2006 at 12:02 PM          

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