In part 1, we learned that our elected
representatives represented many more people than they did in the past.
This had harmful consequences, as explained in part 3.
In this part, we look at a possibly disastrous consequence.
In the Montebello Star News of June-July,
2007, I read with interest an essay by Montebello city councilor Robert
Bagwell:
Professor
[Alexander] Tyler, a University of Edinburgh history professor, had this to
say about democracy: “A
democracy is always temporary in nature;
it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.
A democracy will continue to exist up until that time the voters
discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public
treasury. From that moment on,
the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits
from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
dictatorship.”
The statement by Professor Tyler is sobering, even
frightening. For more, see
The statement can well apply to Montebello, California,
and the United States. When our
President talks about protecting American interests, is he trying to delay
the inevitable by securing cheap oil and cheap goods from abroad, while
opening markets for American goods? Are
we trying to prolong the life of a moribund, fundamentally-flawed market
economy?
Our city councilor goes on to say that
[t]he average
age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history
has been about 200 years. These
nations always progressed through the following sequence:
(1) from bondage
to spiritual faith, (2) from spiritual faith to great courage, (3) from
courage to liberty, (4) from liberty to abundance, (5) from abundance to
complacency, (6) from complacency to apathy, (7) from apathy to dependence,
(8) from dependence back into bondage.
A professor in
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out that the U.S. is now somewhere between the
“apathy” and the “complacency” phase of Professor Tyler’s
definition of democracy. ...
Is the downfall of America inevitable, as history would
seem to tell us?
No, because we can halt the downfall by addressing the
problem in the community lesson in this issue, “Wait and Whine Nursery
Rhyme.” We can involve
Americans, including Montebelloans, directly in government.
The assumption is that, when people learn by discussing and deciding
through direct, substantive participation in government, their perspectives
would change for the better.
Professor Tyler and City Councilor Bagwell are
concerned because they assume that our static, I daresay stagnant, form of
representative democracy would continue.
While the concern is commendable, the assumption is challengeable,
because I believe that, if we moved toward pure democracy, we would assuage
the concern.
In the next part, we will look at the consequences of
elected officials representing an “overpopulation” of constituents.