Too Much of a Good Thing Why we need less democracy.(Former Obama Director)

The New Republic ^ | 09/27/11 | Peter Orszag

[barmag25]

In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams wrote that “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” That may read today like an overstatement, but it is certainly true that our democracy finds itself facing a deep challenge: During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse—harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress—and that paralyzing gridlock is the result.

So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.

[wideawake]

Yes, a very interesting coincidence, isn't it?

Though perhaps we should move to a system where only private taxpayers and also combat veterans are allowed to vote, and government leeches like Mr. Orszag have to sit and watch.

[Elsiejay]

“harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing”

“Your definition and my definition of “necessary” is completely different.”

---

He was serving a President that has no interest in “governing,” but rather intends to “rule” by executive fiat, the Constitution be damned..

[ilgipper]

Orszag, you douche, the damage was done when there was NO gridlock. The American people overwhelmingly voted FOR gridlock to stop the massacre of our economic future.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

That's why we are not a democracy.

That's why we are a representative republic.

Or were, until Democrats manufactured so many fraudulent votes that they can steal close elections at-will.

[gusopol3]

Beck nailed this two years ago

[PeterPrinciple]

I agree, we need less democracy and more republic............

[philman_36]

In an 1814 letter to John Taylor, John Adams wrote that “there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” That may read today like an overstatement, but it is certainly true that our democracy finds itself facing a deep challenge...
Hey, Peter, you dolt, you've got a problem. America is not a democracy and was never founded as one.
From John Adams, well before 1814...
Epilogue: Securing the Republic John Adams to Mercy Warren 8 Jan. 1776
Pray Madam, are you for an American Monarchy or Republic? (what?! why didn't he ask her if she were for a Democracy?) Monarchy is the genteelest and most fashionable Government, and I dont know why the Ladies ought not to consult Elegance and the Fashion as well in Government as Gowns, Bureaus or Chariots.
For my own part I am so tasteless as to prefer a Republic, if We must erect an independent Government in America, which you know is utterly against my Inclination. But a Republic, altho it will infallibly beggar me and my Children, will produce Strength, Hardiness Activity, Courage, Fortitude and Enterprise; the manly noble and Sublime Qualities in human Nature, in Abundance.

And that last sentence is why all of these politicians and bureaucrats, like you, keep calling us a democracy instead of the Republic we are. They don't want people to develop the characteristics outlined above that a Republic produces.

[philman_36]

In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.
It's a shame you can't just read the rest of the article there and read his solution.
Here's the rest of the article so it can be read in full...
This article appears in full on CFR.org by permission of its original publisher.

[philman_36]

Luckily for all of us the whole article can be read at the Council of Foreign Relations link I’ve given at reply 28.

[GeronL]

lol.

Yep. The new meme.....

Reichstag fire time?

[philman_36]

This is interesting...
THE PROBLEM WITH such commissions is that, like automatic stabilizers and backstop rules, they reduce the power of elected officials and therefore make our government somewhat less accountable to voters.

So that's what he wants...to make our government "somewhat" less accountable to voters instead of completely unaccountable.

That comes about if Mr. Dunham wins reelection so get those marching shoes on, Democrats of America! Place that shackle about your own ankles 'cause the Democrats know you blindly will.

[GeronL]

don’t forget how Obama “joked” about being a dictator to the cheers of La Raza.

[GeronL]

100% correct.

[Oceander]

Now this guy is a “useful idiot” of the first order. Nothing more than a prescription for tyranny. What we need is less of D.C., less of the federal government, and a return to the states and the individuals the responsibility of running their own lives as they see fit.

[GOPJ]

Does this dovetail nicely with the dem governor of North Carolina suggesting we suspend elections? Which by the way would also 'suspend' the Constitution...

And Fast and Furious - Gunrunner... how did that play into all of this? Was that part of the plan to disarm citizens? Or to discredit conservatives? We know this much - dems are totalitarian creeps.

[GOPJ]

Does this dovetail nicely with the dem governor of North Carolina suggesting we suspend elections? Which by the way would also 'suspend' the Constitution...

And Fast and Furious - Gunrunner... how did that play into all of this? Was that part of the plan to disarm citizens? Or to discredit conservatives? We know this much - dems are totalitarian creeps.

[GeronL]

Obama joked about being a dictator when he spoke to La Raza

They cheered and chanted “Yes we can”

[GeronL]

Even Jonah Goldberg could nail this one

“Liberal Fascism” was his book I think

[philman_36]

Reichstag fire time?
That's already happened, IMO. I'm figuring it's getting close to the proverbial Kristallnacht on conservatives. The rhetoric has been tending in that direction for some time now anyway.

[GOPJ]

Obama joked about being a dictator when he spoke to La Raza

Is that true? I hope you're kidding.

One of the ways resistance to an idea is 'broken down' is the process of bringing it up often enough that people start accepting the idea as an option.