“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
The quote is from George Bernard Shaw. And it’s something our founding fathers fervently believed. Which is why they considered the word “democracy” a curse. More than four letters, but an obscenity nonetheless. When they framed the Constitution they did their very best to insure we’d have none of it.
For that “no taxation without representation” bit, left over from the Revolution, they gave us a House of Representatives. It would have the first word over finances. But all else, including the last word on everything, would reside in the Senate. Their finest creation.
First, they made sure that the smallest state would count for as much as the largest; e.g., that economic powerhouse of the Great Plains, that hot-bed of culture, that home to countless millions, North Dakota, has as much influence as California or New York. Next, the slave states would always have an edge. Slaves were property, not humans. Except when it came to determining how many representatives each state would have in that House of Representatives, and, least we forget, who would be elected President. Then each slave would count as 3/5 of a human being. Zero when it came to being human, 60% when it came to counting. Which is why, until the election of Lincoln, every President of the United States was either a southerner, or southern sympathizer (otherwise known as a fan of slavery). Except two: the two Adamses. Guess how successful each of their single terms were?
Not that elections were ever to be decided by one-man-one-vote, but by one-landowning-white-man-one-vote (women, of course, along with poor men or men of whatever other shade, need never think of applying). But even this kind of election was not to be used to elect Senators or the President. Oh no, that might not keep dreaded democracy far enough away. Those elections were left to the state legislatures or special Presidential electors. The Senate election business wouldn’t be changed until 1914 (more than a century later by the 17th Amendment; yep, the same one our present day tea-baggers want to reverse); and we still live with the presidential electoral vote nonsense – thank you very much, founders, for George Bush. And as icing on the cake, they gave Senators a six-year term vs. two-years for a congressional representative.
We’ve been able to change very little of this in the 223 years since; the dead hand of these old white men still dictates how our laws are made. I could go on about how the Senate itself proceeded to put together a rulebook to further reinforce it’s anti-democratic character – thanks, guys (it’s still mostly men) for the filibuster, etc. – but why bother. Because the real irony is that the founding fathers need never have worried. George Bernard Shaw was wrong: you can’t depend on Paul to vote in his own interest. Matter of fact, with a little investment of time and effort – and lets not forget money, never forget money – it turns out you can even convince Paul that he needs to rob himself and give yet more to Peter.
How? Just confuse ‘em about which side they should be on. Here’s what a recognized expert had to say about getting representative democratic government to jump on the bandwagon for war: "Oh, that’s all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That’s easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Call it “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” call it “the Death Tax,” or call “Obama’s Death Panels.” Or “Government is the Enemy.” As if. Government is the only chance we’ve got. If it comes down to you vs. big oil. Or you vs. Citibank. Or you vs. what Eisenhower called the “military-industrial” complex. My money will not be on you. Get enough talking heads in suits-and-ties (or, these days, nice dresses) to shout long enough and hard enough and there you are. Details? Who needs sniveling details? Winning the sound bite war is usually enough.
And who was the recognized expert? Why Hermann Goering, of late, unlamented, Third Reich and Luftwaffe fame. I’ll end with another quote, this one from James Bovard, a libertarian author and lecturer.
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
You’ll have to make up your own mind, but to me those two wolves might just be named Republican and Democrat. And that sheep? That sheep, my dear readers, is us.
The quote is from George Bernard Shaw. And it’s something our founding fathers fervently believed. Which is why they considered the word “democracy” a curse. More than four letters, but an obscenity nonetheless. When they framed the Constitution they did their very best to insure we’d have none of it.
For that “no taxation without representation” bit, left over from the Revolution, they gave us a House of Representatives. It would have the first word over finances. But all else, including the last word on everything, would reside in the Senate. Their finest creation.
First, they made sure that the smallest state would count for as much as the largest; e.g., that economic powerhouse of the Great Plains, that hot-bed of culture, that home to countless millions, North Dakota, has as much influence as California or New York. Next, the slave states would always have an edge. Slaves were property, not humans. Except when it came to determining how many representatives each state would have in that House of Representatives, and, least we forget, who would be elected President. Then each slave would count as 3/5 of a human being. Zero when it came to being human, 60% when it came to counting. Which is why, until the election of Lincoln, every President of the United States was either a southerner, or southern sympathizer (otherwise known as a fan of slavery). Except two: the two Adamses. Guess how successful each of their single terms were?
Not that elections were ever to be decided by one-man-one-vote, but by one-landowning-white-man-one-vote (women, of course, along with poor men or men of whatever other shade, need never think of applying). But even this kind of election was not to be used to elect Senators or the President. Oh no, that might not keep dreaded democracy far enough away. Those elections were left to the state legislatures or special Presidential electors. The Senate election business wouldn’t be changed until 1914 (more than a century later by the 17th Amendment; yep, the same one our present day tea-baggers want to reverse); and we still live with the presidential electoral vote nonsense – thank you very much, founders, for George Bush. And as icing on the cake, they gave Senators a six-year term vs. two-years for a congressional representative.
We’ve been able to change very little of this in the 223 years since; the dead hand of these old white men still dictates how our laws are made. I could go on about how the Senate itself proceeded to put together a rulebook to further reinforce it’s anti-democratic character – thanks, guys (it’s still mostly men) for the filibuster, etc. – but why bother. Because the real irony is that the founding fathers need never have worried. George Bernard Shaw was wrong: you can’t depend on Paul to vote in his own interest. Matter of fact, with a little investment of time and effort – and lets not forget money, never forget money – it turns out you can even convince Paul that he needs to rob himself and give yet more to Peter.
How? Just confuse ‘em about which side they should be on. Here’s what a recognized expert had to say about getting representative democratic government to jump on the bandwagon for war: "Oh, that’s all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That’s easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
Call it “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” call it “the Death Tax,” or call “Obama’s Death Panels.” Or “Government is the Enemy.” As if. Government is the only chance we’ve got. If it comes down to you vs. big oil. Or you vs. Citibank. Or you vs. what Eisenhower called the “military-industrial” complex. My money will not be on you. Get enough talking heads in suits-and-ties (or, these days, nice dresses) to shout long enough and hard enough and there you are. Details? Who needs sniveling details? Winning the sound bite war is usually enough.
And who was the recognized expert? Why Hermann Goering, of late, unlamented, Third Reich and Luftwaffe fame. I’ll end with another quote, this one from James Bovard, a libertarian author and lecturer.
“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
You’ll have to make up your own mind, but to me those two wolves might just be named Republican and Democrat. And that sheep? That sheep, my dear readers, is us.
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