Giving up on democracy

My friend and debate partner handed me a copy of Metro Times from a couple weeks ago (while I was in Austin). It had an article about the community meeting in which Fannie Mae did not show up. Good to see wider publicity of the issue.

However, it was another article that caught my attention. Jack Lessenberry asks "Is the System Hopeless?" He was referring to politics in Michigan and offers these reasons to think so:

* A run for the governor's office will cost $23-30 million. No one without a lot of name recognition (which leaves out most Dems) or is personally super rich (which means they wouldn't run as a Dem) could afford it. Rick Snyder's term ends in 2014.

* I've written about the pervasive gerrymandering of congressional seats. I knew it was the case in other races, but didn't have numbers. Now I do. In 2012 54% of the votes for state representatives went to Democrats. Yet the GOP holds the House by 54%.

* Campaign finance laws mean we can't know who contributes to candidates (the Supreme Court case permits disclosure, but Michigan doesn't require it) and for the amount being spent we know that the donor wants something in return.

* Over 18 million was spent in Mich. Supreme Court races last year. Since the candidates are nominated by the parties we know the nomination wouldn't be given unless it was well known that the candidate would do the party bidding.

* Gerrymandering means the only contest most reps and state senators face is the primary -- pushing GOP candidates further to the right. There is no need to appeal to the independent voter.

* The combination of gerrymandering and term limits means candidates answer only to lobbyists because their next job will likely be with a lobbying firm.

I've written before (way back in 2010) that the GOP has given up on democracy. It gets in the way. Lessenberry considers another possibility. What happens if the people get so discouraged that they give up on democracy? That will be scary.



In this week's comments Lessenberry ponders Memorial Day. I didn't spend it at a cemetery either. Like me, Lessenberry was a teenager in the 1960s and '70s. Fighting in Vietnam was on everyone's mind. Thankfully, the draft ended the year before I would have been involved.

But the all-volunteer military had a strange effect on the thinking of politicians. The children of the well-to-do were no longer being shot at, so politicians could start wars with a great deal less response from the public. Even when soldiers are killed, they're the offspring of poor people, so very little attention is paid.