In a blog posted early this morning on the Huffington Post, Craig Crawford wrote a short, dismissive piece on the outcry over the US House’s attempt to pass health care reform without actually voting on it. That issue aside, Mr. Crawford had this to say about the situation:
“At the end of the day, even if this convoluted process is how the health overhaul becomes law, it was still supported by a majority of the nation’s elected lawmakers in Congress. And that’s democracy.”
It would be hysterical if so many “progressives” in the country didn’t believe the same thing. He failed at comprehending both the Constitution and the English language on two levels:
- He describes a vote of our elected representatives as “democracy” when is, in fact, a republic. There was no vote of the people on this issue, instead they people sent representatives to vote on the issue for them, hence representative government.
- He acts as though the actual casting of a vote doesn’t really matter, as long as the majority of representatives meant to support the measure. It doesn’t really matter how the government works, as long as it sides with him.
I very much doubt Mr. Crawford and other progressives would like real democracy, since it affords no protection for the minority. It is simply two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner.
The Pursuit of Liberty 
Hammond Sandwich
March 17, 2010
Main Entry: de·moc·ra·cy
Pronunciation: \di-ˈmä-krə-sē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural de·moc·ra·cies
Etymology: Middle French democratie, from Late Latin democratia, from Greek dēmokratia, from dēmos + -kratia -cracy
Date: 1576
1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2 : a political unit that has a democratic government
3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States
4 : the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5 : the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges
So -that’s- democracy. Words are hard.
Aaand pass and deem still involves voting. Look it up!
Pot/black; hysterical indeed.
Josh Saint Jacque
March 18, 2010
First of all, yes it involves voting – on a separate bill. It’s like the government assuming that if you vote for candidate “x” you must support initiative “y” because candidate “x” does. It’s rule by assumption and a convenient way for Dems to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It won’t work in November.
As for the comparison of Democracy to Republic,
“These two forms of government: Democracy and Republic, are not only dissimilar but antithetical, reflecting the sharp contrast between (a) The Majority Unlimited, in a Democracy, lacking any legal safeguard of the rights of The Individual and The Minority, and (b) The Majority Limited, in a Republic under a written Constitution safeguarding the rights of The Individual and The Minority; as we shall now see.”
–The American Ideal of 1776: The Twelve Basic American Principles by Hamilton Abert Long
I understand that the word can be used in a broad sense to describe popular governments in general, but there is nothing popular about this bill that the people don’t want.
Rick
March 18, 2010
Funny how republicans only complain about our government affording no protection to the minority when the GOP is in the minority.
Josh Saint Jacque
March 18, 2010
Not true, at least not of all of us. I did not support the “nuclear” option when it was being discussed on social security in 2005 by the Republicans, and I would never – under any circumstances – support passing a major multi-trillion dollar initiative like this without actually voting on it.
Funny how Democrats try to justify one wrong by pointing to others.