DEMOCRACY, WHAT'S GONE WRONG
The March 1st-7th issue of The Economist features an
essay entitled WHAT'S GONE WRONG WITH DEMOCRACY, and how to revive it.
I strongly recommend you read this essay as it provides great
insight into the world's current situation and where we, as a country, are
headed. (more later)
In recent essays, I've written about the size of
government and the consistent drum beat of screw ups occurring in government agencies
at all levels. This is not a party, or a liberal vs conservative issue but,
rather, a management/organizational issue. Typically, congress approves of some
new department, agency, program and allocates funding. A political appointee
heads it up, and off they go to pursue their mission. There's little, or no,
supervision and no effort to tie funding to results. I don't know of a better
way to insure that too much time and money will be spent accomplishing too
little
Sometime later, there's a surprise: The VA hospital
system is neglecting vets; the IRS is engaged in politicking, the health care
rollout is a mess. Those of you with long memories can add, ad nauseam, to the
list. There's nothing new here except that these problems will invariably grow
in proportion to the size, complexity, and reach of government.
This is an appropriate place to insert a quote from
the aforementioned essay:
"But today, particularly in the West, the
big dangers to democracy are harder to spot. One is the growing size of the
state. The relentless expansion of government is reducing liberty and handing
ever more power to special interests."
Ah democracy--like we had in the good ole days, before
special interests took over. And Yes! Yes!, we've always had special interests
and always will, but our current situation? How did we get here, and how can we
recover? Who's benefiting from the destruction of our democracy and propping
up the corruption in DC?
HINT: Follow the money.
The Economist, March 1st edition can be accessed on
line at www.economist.com. Select 'print
edition', 'previous issues'. And don't forget, you're paying to support your
local library.
Joe Bakewell
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