I think devolution is a good idea, and I am willing to entertain a national sales tax to replace the income tax. But the Federal government has an essential role in the modern world, and will remain substantial even when downsized. Democracy is a dynamic system, where even minorities get substantial power if they can act as a swing vote, and where one cannot just take for granted any constituency group, with Congressional seats lost by a few hundred votes. Jeffords was not only disloyal, he was stupid. He would have had much more power as a Republican that the leadership was trying to keep on the reservation than as a defector. All of Lani Guinier's nonsense showed a fundamental misunderstanding of how coalition politics works. We don't need elaborate new systems to make things fairer. That extends to lobbyists and such. They are all competing in such a manner as to negate each other. Additionally, groups like the Sierra Club can not only deliver some amount of financial support, but can get votes with their endorsement, and provide voters from their membership roles. In a lot of districts, having the Sierra Club on your side is more important than getting money from timber interests.
Democracy is relatively messy and inefficient, that is true. It is supposed to be. It is even somewhat corrupt. But by forcing us to air issues and consider them from every side, and by making things move slowly, with predictability, it makes it likelier that we will not behave rashly, and will perhaps improve over time...... |
