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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (137861)	6/24/2004 5:58:15 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 281500

The American people exercise sovereignty, but they primarily hire others, through the ballot, to handle affairs for them. The average voter understands that he is in no position to keep abreast of all matters of policy, or to manage all aspects of the executive, than to teach all of his children K- BA, or float from engineer to restaurant manager to airline pilot to diplomat. All he wants is to have confidence in the character, competence, and general orientation of the persons who run for office. Then, he is largely content to let the persons hired do their jobs, subject to a right to kibbitz, as when participating in a letter writing campaign or a demonstration. We happen to have a democracy that tends to repose a high degree of trust in its government, and therefore may seem to those who are less contented to be complacent. It is not so much complacence as that people are busy with their own jobs and families, and will therefore only kibbitz much when something seems out of whack. It just so happens that most people find the ability to go to the ballot periodically sufficient for the sending of messages........

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (137861)	6/24/2004 7:24:02 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 281500

I'm not really sure we do have the tools. We might have them, under some circumstances- but then again, if a terrorist incident were to give an executive cover to use military and police authority in oppressive ways, I'm not sure the tools at our disposal would be all that handy dandy. I hope they would- but the chimera of freedom we enjoy, as limited as it is, is a fragile thing, and the people (nod to Hamilton) are rabble- and can be rather emotional and illogical- and are probably as likely to give their freedom away for foolish reasons, as to protect it for intelligent ones.