For my entire life, I believed the words of Abraham Lincoln that America had a government "of the people, by the people and for the people." We could watch Washington go through all sorts of contortions, but ultimately it was the voters, the American people, who made the final decisions on the direction of the country. This structure was obviously not used in many other countries where the whims of a dictator had much more force than the will of the majority, but in America the basic social compact called for all of us to accept democratic rule. In recent days, however, it has become clear that the acceptance that the people are in charge is vanishing.
Think about where we are today. Two weeks ago, American voters tossed out legions of Democrats who were closely associated with president Obama and put in their place Republicans who promised to oppose Obama's policies on things like the economy, immigration, the environment, etc. If the president and the Democrats accepted the idea that the will of the people should be respected, we ought to have seen some movement towards the Republican view of what needs to be done. At a minimum, we ought to have seen Obama and the Democrats slow down with some of the initiatives. Just the opposite, however, has happened. Even though candidate after candidate who opposed amnesty was elected, Obama is about to grant that relief to some five million illegal aliens. Even though every senate candidate who opposed the Keystone pipeline was defeated, the measure to give the go ahead for the construction was defeated by nearly all the Democrats in the senate voting against that authorization. We are hearing from multiple sources among the Democrats that voters approved of the Democrats' positions even though the same voters ousted huge numbers of party members and replaced them with the GOP. This last argument is based principally on the result of four state referenda on raising the minimum wage, hardly a ringing endorsement of Democrat positions.
The abandonment by the Democrats of respect for the will of the people is a very dangerous development for the USA. Everyone, even the Democrats, needs to understand that it is the American people who are in charge. They are not stupid, and they have the right to choose their own destiny. Ultimately, if the Democrats continue to ignore the people, that party will go the way of the Whigs. Nevertheless, enormous damage can be done to the USA if the Democrats continue on their present course.
Think about where we are today. Two weeks ago, American voters tossed out legions of Democrats who were closely associated with president Obama and put in their place Republicans who promised to oppose Obama's policies on things like the economy, immigration, the environment, etc. If the president and the Democrats accepted the idea that the will of the people should be respected, we ought to have seen some movement towards the Republican view of what needs to be done. At a minimum, we ought to have seen Obama and the Democrats slow down with some of the initiatives. Just the opposite, however, has happened. Even though candidate after candidate who opposed amnesty was elected, Obama is about to grant that relief to some five million illegal aliens. Even though every senate candidate who opposed the Keystone pipeline was defeated, the measure to give the go ahead for the construction was defeated by nearly all the Democrats in the senate voting against that authorization. We are hearing from multiple sources among the Democrats that voters approved of the Democrats' positions even though the same voters ousted huge numbers of party members and replaced them with the GOP. This last argument is based principally on the result of four state referenda on raising the minimum wage, hardly a ringing endorsement of Democrat positions.
The abandonment by the Democrats of respect for the will of the people is a very dangerous development for the USA. Everyone, even the Democrats, needs to understand that it is the American people who are in charge. They are not stupid, and they have the right to choose their own destiny. Ultimately, if the Democrats continue to ignore the people, that party will go the way of the Whigs. Nevertheless, enormous damage can be done to the USA if the Democrats continue on their present course.
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