OK, which is it?
I've always been puzzled and intrigued by what we really are and by that I mean a representative democracy. I think I have the term correct. We get to vote for our elected representatives and they in turn represent us and our views in City Hall, State Capitols and Washington DC.
Now that gets tricky because everybody I vote for doesn't always win. I guess that's the democracy part. We don't always win and get our collective way.
But as I listened to an NPR story on the last big (gasp) push for the Health Care bill I was confused by one thing (well a lot of things but I guess Dennis Kucinich isn't confused anymore since he's changed his mind, but I digress...): The Democrats are not giving up. Even though some polls show that not even a majority of their party favor this massive health care reform bill, they are going to push it through anyway.
So who do those arm-twisting Dems represent? I don't expect Nancy Pelosi (or her Missouri equivalent if we had one) to care about my thoughts. I'm not one of her voters. But if less than half of her voters still think the bill is a bad idea, why is she pushing and who is she pushing for?
I was disappointed to hear Cleveland Dennis changed his mind. I heard he got a limo ride with the Pres. earlier this week. Oh well. I would have told him not to get into the car. I've seen the Godfather movies and you definitely don't want to sit in the front seat when asked to take a ride.
But back to the bigger picture of what we expect from our elected Pols. Obviously we are not always going to agree 100% on everything with anybody on hundreds of issues.
So my philosophical question is: when we vote for someone, are we voting because we think/believe/hope they already agree with us on lots of big (and small) issues and so are likely to vote along our lines when those things come up OR
do we vote for smart, thoughtful people, who when confronted with big choices, will take all the facts into consideration, collect numerous ideas and opinions from experts and those they represent and they make an informed decision based on all this best judgment?
I think there is a clear distinction between my two ideas above. Maybe not.
I think maybe you can have a good mix of both but what the Democrats seem to be doing doesn't fit either one of my profiles.
Now that gets tricky because everybody I vote for doesn't always win. I guess that's the democracy part. We don't always win and get our collective way.
But as I listened to an NPR story on the last big (gasp) push for the Health Care bill I was confused by one thing (well a lot of things but I guess Dennis Kucinich isn't confused anymore since he's changed his mind, but I digress...): The Democrats are not giving up. Even though some polls show that not even a majority of their party favor this massive health care reform bill, they are going to push it through anyway.
So who do those arm-twisting Dems represent? I don't expect Nancy Pelosi (or her Missouri equivalent if we had one) to care about my thoughts. I'm not one of her voters. But if less than half of her voters still think the bill is a bad idea, why is she pushing and who is she pushing for?
I was disappointed to hear Cleveland Dennis changed his mind. I heard he got a limo ride with the Pres. earlier this week. Oh well. I would have told him not to get into the car. I've seen the Godfather movies and you definitely don't want to sit in the front seat when asked to take a ride.
But back to the bigger picture of what we expect from our elected Pols. Obviously we are not always going to agree 100% on everything with anybody on hundreds of issues.
So my philosophical question is: when we vote for someone, are we voting because we think/believe/hope they already agree with us on lots of big (and small) issues and so are likely to vote along our lines when those things come up OR
do we vote for smart, thoughtful people, who when confronted with big choices, will take all the facts into consideration, collect numerous ideas and opinions from experts and those they represent and they make an informed decision based on all this best judgment?
I think there is a clear distinction between my two ideas above. Maybe not.
I think maybe you can have a good mix of both but what the Democrats seem to be doing doesn't fit either one of my profiles.
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