Today, the quality of public servants available in the democracy is really just a function of Americans refusal to exercise the franchise and get to a polling booth - particularly when it comes to off term elections. 58 countries in the world have better voter turnout than the U.S. The jails are full because Americans are distracted; the irony is that politics works best when shaken up - you actually get better politicians over the long run when voter turnout is strongest. When kept low, either by voter despair at the poor field of candidates offered us, or by outright voter suppression from big money, politics degrades to the point where the electorate have all but surrendered to the Reagan era precept that government is the problem. This belief is poison. It left us with a vacuum and bad actors love a vacuum. This belief corrodes representative democracy, eventually allowing government of the people and by the people to be captured by elites. Its the same thing that Zinn is talking about here ... the same thing Vaclav Havel was talking about when he wrote of speaking truth to power. Its a necessary part of the process, and we in this country ought to flex that muscle again.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:14:31 +0000
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