Arrogant Power, Angry People

In a republic leaders are sensitive to the desires and interests of the people but will not be stampeded by the mob. Democracy can be the mob. In an oligarchy the leaders fear the mob and ignore the wisdom and desires of the people. It is apparent why it is so difficult to maintain an effective and legitimate republic. The leaders are tempted by power and fearful of a populace that may become unruly and threatening. Because of their morbid fear of the people, the political leadership continually seeks to purchase the affection of their constituents by using the public treasury to purchase their goodwill. The political process is reduced to a series of transactions that have no basis in principle and no moral justification in reality. As a republic becomes more “democratic,” the buy/sell relationship between the political class and the governed reaches a fever pitch. This enhanced democratization is advanced by professional peoples’ representatives who undertake to advance the desires of clusters of constituencies. They interact freely with the political class and serve as ready conduits between the elected officials and the citizens. They are advocates. They are association or industry representatives. They are lobbyists.

Although the existence of lobbying as a necessity for advancing the concerns of various organized groups and policy advocates seems to distort the governing process, their presence is quite natural when a system morphs from a republic into a democracy. In a small democratic group each individual can make her or his voice heard over the din in the room. As the democratic universe grows larger and more removed from the citizens, it becomes vital for competing interests to gain access to the policy and law makers. While it is an obvious development, it does create an insular layer of unaccountability between the governed and their government. The lack of clear-cut responsibility yields a political class that has no personal stake in the consequences of their regulating and legislating. The most influential feedback they receive is from the lobbyists who may temper their concerns or disagreements in order to curry favor for the next issue that confronts their clients. Politicians, therefore, may assume that their actions and wisdom are infallible because there is very little clamoring discontent surrounding their decisions. They become arrogant….which is natural given the personality types that are attracted to stagecraft and self promotion. The political class begins to believe that it is entitled to rule because it knows best what is good for the nation and beneficial for the people. The system allows no one to get close enough to the would-be emperor to tell him or her that he or she is wearing no clothes.

For a time the people are contented with the greater democratization of their political process. They relish the opportunities to vote on issues large and small. Their sense of empowerment grows larger as they witness the various and numerous polls that test the temper of the people. They voluntarily join organizations and industry groups who share their views and goals. They sense that they may have an advantage over their lowly brethren who are not so actively engaged. Reality begins to ooze into the consciousness of the citizens as they begin to understand that the political system has become a never ending process of advantage/disadvantage. Just when a favorable rule or law is implemented that resolves their issue….a competing interest promotes another less favorable alternative. The stakes get higher with each round of favorable versus unfavorable governing and the citizen begins to detect that the process has spun out of control. He or she becomes uneasy and either becomes more active in the lobbying groups or totally withdraws from the dysfunctional process. The citizen begins to suspect that the essence of democracy is the ability to out maneuver the others who seek power and influence. The goal is to be a wolf and not a lamb when the dinner menu is discussed.

Because of the ratcheting demands of the various groups who see their power rise and fall, the various members of the constituent groups slowly begin to understand that the nation, its political class and its honor have all been corrupted. No one group is ever completely satisfied with its slice of the political pie and the slices tend to become increasingly smaller and less tasty. A sour and bitter sliver of a bloated impersonal polity does little to satisfy the gnawing hunger of unfulfilled dreams. Trading favors and buying votes are never permanent but are mere interludes until a better offer comes along. The discontented people discover others who share their views, and together they discuss new recipes for creating a better pie….large enough for all to share….tasty enough for all to enjoy. They meet, they study, they propose and they reject as they search for the ideal ingredients to create the perfect pie. And then……someone remembers that Grandma’s pie was the best they’d ever eaten. They found her recipe, and lo!, it worked.

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Spring Cleaning

A reader and friend sent an email to me about how a group of lab monkeys reacted over time when faced with cold reality and obstacles. The moral of the story was that the monkeys learned their behavior from the experience of other monkeys, and if one wants to change the mind-set in Congress, the whole group has to be turned out. If voters fail to remove incumbents in a wholesale fashion, the returning legislators will infect the newcomers with their “this is the way we do it” attitude. Our nation doesn’t have the luxury of ample time to slowly transform the mentality of career politicians.

With all 435 Members of the House of Representatives up for (re) election plus a third of the Senate in 2012, the task is a daunting one. The first problem is finding candidates who are knowledgeable, energetic and willing to take on the status quo. In addition, rookie candidates must raise adequate funds and dedicate one year of their lives to non-stop campaigning. It becomes a brutal obstacle course, but with the state of the nation at stake, one would hope and pray that patriots step forward. Once those who are willing to tackle the monumental task of running for office have been identified, it becomes absolutely necessary for patriots, liberty groups, Tea Parties and their like-minded associates to commit to knocking on every door, raising funds and seeking out campaign opportunities for the candidates. Merely begging someone to run and then leaving them to their own devices for success is a fraudulent approach to restoring the political structure. Recruit, endorse, support and work…and work…then work some more. The same formula will work for the state General Assembly. In Ohio we have 99 House seats and 33 Senate districts so that means that in 2012 all House seats will be “open” and half the Senate.

If you’re doing the calculus, you’ll note that some liberty-patriot groups will have to do “double duty.” In Ohio, for example, each Congressional district will contain approximately six (6) state house slots and one or two state senate races. The activists within a given Congressional district should co-ordinate and divide responsibilities and emphasis. The theorists of warfare and football recommend finding the opponent’s weakest point, then attacking and exploiting it. The nature of the political beast, however, changes the strategic plan from a directed one to an all-out assault across the entire front of action. This approach will require massive people power and tons of money. If any district or area of the state falls down and fails to uphold their end, the two old parties can divert resources from the weakened area into other more competitive races. It is vital, therefore, for the sweeping effect to succeed that every liberty or patriot group and every active member be immersed in the effort.

So why call this piece “Spring Cleaning?” In Ohio and many other states the candidate filing deadline is earlier than normal because of the advanced primary dates next year. December 7^th, 2011, is the filing date for partisan office in Ohio for the 2012 General Election. That date is a mere 6.5 months away. If candidates must be recruited, now is the time. If others have decided to run, build the team and design the plan for victory. The cleaning of the Congress and the General Assembly must begin this spring. If it doesn’t, the eventual candidates and supporters will be at a significant disadvantage. I’ve participated in and coordinated campaigns at all levels…earlier is better. So, apply your thinking caps, Patriots, the time for a clean sweep of the system is now…or never. Despite their legendary thick-headedness, politicians will recognize a threat when it affects them personally. If the liberty movement is not up to speed, the politicians will win and then devise methods for limiting the input of citizens…self-protective retribution.

Come on, 21^st Century Paul and Paulette Reveres, mount your steeds and sound the alarms. The membership must be awakened from their slumber and assembled on the village green. The Turncoats are coming!!! They must be confronted and defeated, or we should prepare to live in tyranny. The door of opportunity is not a swinging door. When it opens, we must charge through…and not look back.

Tomorrow we’ll review the “Cleaning Supplies” that we’ll need to sweep out the old political class.

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State of my Mind

Yesterday I discussed the difficulty of maintaining a republic because of a number of factors. There are others, I’m certain, but those four (size, diversity, avarice, career politicians) seem to be those most troublesome to me. Please understand that I am fully aware that this analysis and proposed solution will probably have no effect on the nation’s discourse. There are some considerations that I believe are worthy of notice if citizens of various states would think about them. If you assume that our nation is too large for a functional, liberty-preserving republic, perhaps we can arrive at a formula that preserves individual freedom, limits the size and scope of the government and promotes property rights and prosperity.

Our federal government has grown too large and unwieldy for a number of reasons, but one that I suspect is critical is that our nation is too large for each of us to be instrumentally engaged and influential. Our federal administration has been regionalized with offices in nearly every major city in the country. At the same time, local governments and, to some degree, state governments have been creating regional alliances and divisions to handle many of the tasks that cross existing political boundaries. If governments at all levels are merging and cooperating to provide services…and limit personal freedom, why not exploit that impetus and construct a system of government that is more personal, encourages liberty and is more efficient and responsible? We could subdivide the 50 states into 6 to 10 smaller nations which share common interests, similar demographics and cultures. Each of these smaller countries would be sovereign, and the states that are included in them would be sovereign consistent with the present Constitution of the United States. The 6 to 10 smaller nations would unite in a confederation (similar to the Articles of Confederation) that would allow for and require common defense, free trade and open borders.

As an illustration of my proposal, what if North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah banded together to form the nation of “Plains?” Their primary export products would be wheat and petroleum from oil sands and deep well drilling. Other foodstuffs could be grown successfully throughout the country at a level that would sustain the new nation and allow some to be shipped outside the borders. Perhaps later some Canadian provinces would seek to establish something similar or join in with their southern neighbors. In that case Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan would be natural additions to the Plains. Under this scenario California may wish to form its own coastal mini-nation because of its broad-based economy and large population. Some of you may be shuddering at the prospect of a profligate California as a stand-alone nation, but I suspect that without the incessant federal mandates and regulations plus lacking the opportunity for a federal bailout, California would get its act together….or fail without dragging every other nation along.

Can a plan such as this be implemented? It does seem somewhat farfetched because most of the states have surrendered their 10^th Amendment powers and subordinated themselves to the federal leviathan. They probably wouldn’t have the courage or the vision to dissolve the national union to replace it with a series of smaller, more manageable and accountable units. While I have many reservations about the European Union and its negative impact on the individual nations, this arrangement would be the opposite of that one. The United States would devolve from a larger, awkward, smothering behemoth into a succession of lean and controllable affiliated nations. Instead of growing larger to achieve economies of scale and to create a homogeneous union where none had existed before, the North American experiment would unite various states into new nations that already share some degree of similarity with the others in their cluster. The realignment would create new nations wherein most of the populace would share common values and priorities. Discord and vituperative communication should be lessened as the political leadership and the people work for common ground.

As the resident goofball who is promoting this idea, I’m extremely happy that old Abe Lincoln is not President. If he were, he’d probably send General McClellan after me to quell the insurrection. I’m not too worried; however, because I’d probably die of old age before McClellan made a move. I understand that you might consider this idea a preposterous one, and you may be right. I love my country, and I truly fear for its future. Perhaps…just perhaps by breaking our nation into several pieces, we can preserve it. Finally, I suspect the whole will be greater than the sum of the parts if we reorganize into more manageable and homogeneous units.

This exercise was spawned by my desire to return our country to the spirit of our founding. I am aware, however, that times have changed, but bigger isn’t always better. Economy of scale isn’t necessarily more efficient or hospitable to individual liberty. Personal freedom should be the cornerstone of our nation(s).

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