In countless diaries, people have bickered about liberals and conservatives without defining either. I have contributed to this by muddying the waters and have been duly called to task for being a liberal hater since I challenged some people who claim the title as being as hypocritical as some conservatives. One singularly erudite writer summed up his deeply held convictions in the elegant phrase, "F**k you, buddy."
So, having been chastened, I'll switch directions and try another definition in an effort to get some agreement. Todays's word (thank you , Stephen) is "democracy."
"Democracy," as most everybody knows, comes from the Greek word for "people." Therefore, our system of government should be a system where the power of government is derived from the people. Similarly, the "republic" to which we pledge allegiance, is "a form of government in which the government is officially apportioned to the control of the people, or a significant portion of which, and where offices of state are subsequently directly or indirectly elected or appointed," according to Wikipedia. Pretty close to democracy - a lot closer than Demo(crats) and Republic(ans).
In a democracy, people are supposed to have equal rights. As some have pointed out, there's no guarantee for happiness, but there is a guarantee for equal rights to the pursuit of happiness. It seems fair to ask whether this is true in the U.S. of A. these days and, if not, what kind of government have we got, anyway.
Let's start with the pursuit of happiness. Does everyone in the country have an equal right to that pursuit? Well, let's start with education. Does everyone in the country have an equal shot at a good education? Like, in a school that spends $9,000 per child vs. the school that only can spend $3500, does Joe A. Blow have the same kind of instruction in math, reading and science that Joe B. Blow has? Doesn't this shape each kid's future, and his pursuit of happiness?
An equal shot at life entails an equal access to health care when it's needed. Does our society have this? And don't forget liberty. Does the purse-snatcher from the wrong side of the tracks get the same kind of justice as the embezzler from the other side?
Which brings me to the whole question of "the people." Almost a billion dollars will be spent this year on campaign ads, most of them destructive. Super PACs will fork out millions to advance their causes while armies of lobbyists go to work on Congress. Do "the people" really have much say? If you wonder why so few seats on the floor of the House of Representatives have asses on them, they're out raising money for the next election.
Finally, why do so many of us (87%) think so little of the people we're supposed to have elected? Maybe it's because we didn't really elect them.
So what kind of government do we really have? Go to Wikipedia and look up "plutocracy." It's a government run for the benefit of the rich. Look up "oligarchy" and ask whether a government run by and for a select group of individuals or groups is closer to what's going on in Washington than what the Founders intended.
And for those who attack diaries like this for being unpatriotic and unAmerican, how about the ones who put personal power and enrichment ahead of the general good of the people, who export jobs, pressure the Congress to pile on tax breaks denied to the rest of us and laugh at what Leona Helmsley called "the little people." The people who laugh at democracy.
I hold that we've lost a lot of our democracy and if we don't bust our butts trying to get it back, we deserve everything we get.