Almanac. Why my California ballot is soooo large. Part 2. More on Federal government
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| This sample ballot is from California's 2016 Presidential Election. The number of propositions on the ballot is representative of the problem that exists in this state. In what has become all too easy access to placing measures (propositions) on the ballot, elected officials are neglecting their duties as representatives of the people. |
This was originally going to be a two-part series on California's love affair with ballot propositions. However, as I began thinking/writing, I decided to expand the focus. As of 1/28/2019, I predict a total of four parts to this series.
Parts one and two will look at democracy and America. Part three will tackle the evolution of the career politician. Only part four will deal directly with the title. Remaining parts will post on every other Tuesday through February 12.
If you did not read the first blog in this series, here’s the link. I recommend you take a few minutes to read as background for this post.
As I write this post, portions of the Federal Government just reopened after being shut down for 35 days. The reopening is funded for three weeks while congress and the President “negotiate border security.”
Eight hundred thousand government workers, including Coast Guard personnel, went unpaid while our elected officials (House, Senate, President) bickered over funding for one of the President’s favored projects. I saw photos of Coast Guard families and other civil servants in food stamp lines. News stories included interviews with furloughed individuals revealed their dependence on food banks and other charitable groups to keep food on the table. I suspect much of that was to use whatever money was available for housing payments.
HOWEVER, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE WHO CAUSED THIS SHUTDOWN CONTINUED TO COLLECT THEIR PAYCHECKS. I suspect that their staff didn’t miss a paycheck either.
How did such an event occur in “the greatest democracy in the world?”
Shouldn’t the democratic process be able to deal with disagreements without coercion by either legislative or executive branches? [Note. I did not capitalize legislative or executive on purpose. I don’t think either is doing their job to CAPITALIZED expectations.]
Short answers to the above questions are
Q1. How did such an event occur in “the greatest democracy in the world?”
Answer.
Part 1. Ego.
To be President of the United States requires a sizeable ego. Read biographies of past presidents. You’ll find that at least a super majority of them had sizeable egos. The egos of some were gigantic—even though several of those appeared less egotistical in public.
America elected Donald Trump President. Media today vilify him because he lost the popular vote. (Four other presidents were elected without winning the popular vote. 1824: John Quincy Adams, 1876: Rutherford B. Hayes, 1888: Benjamin Harrison, and 2000: George W. Bush were all elected with fewer popular votes than their opponents.) He’s also brash and abrasive. He is not incompetent and has done nothing impeachable. His ego has to be among the top two or three in presidential history.
It’s a good thing that Washington, D.C., is as close as it is to the equator. Otherwise the collective egos of the major players in the Senate and House would be enough to change the tilt of the Earth on its axis. When major “news” outlets report items under a headline like this: Breaking News! How Minority Leader thinks there might be a scandal beginning over _____” You can fill in the blank. When did include what someone thinks? Particularly about something that (s)he thinks might happen?
Ego.
Part 2. Power.
Far too many elected officials barter and otherwise abuse the power the system generates for them. The saying
Power corrupts.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
has never been truer. Let's hope we never reach the second line, although absolute power does not appear to be the mandatory prerequisite to absolute corruption as it was in Napoleon's days.
Q2. Shouldn’t the democratic process be able to deal with disagreements without coercion by either legislative or executive branches?
Answer.
Over time, the conscious manipulation of circumstances by incumbents and a laissez-faire attitude from the electorate corrupted the process. What the United States of American had now is a self-appointed governmental aristocracy who function outside the laws of the country and force those laws on the populace.
Congress members and senators have different health care and pension systems that are only theirs. Neither of those systems remotely resembles the health care system and Social Security system mandated for the electorate by legislation.
I’ll present my thoughts on the concept of career politicians in Part 3.
The next Expressions of Faith is Listen
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