The Constructive Tension US Democracy

In his article, "Too Much of a Good Thing" in the new republic this month Peter Orszag the former adviser to President Obama and Clinton advocates for less democracy in the United States.  This is one of the worst ideas I have heard since someone suggested (and continues) a new constitutional convention. 

The problem is that our form of democracy is slow, incremental, and insanely illogical.  The thing is that for many of us in the United States our country has provided a good life because, as a form of government, our representative form of democracy is slow, incremental and insanely illogical. The thing is, our form of government protects radical shifts in policy for the very reasons that these ideologues decry.  Do I wish that we would stop spending?  Yes.  Do I wish that abortion on demand would cease to exist?  Yes.  Do I wish that all people in our country were to have a high quality of life?  Yes.  Do I wish that any individual that has an unjust, unspeakable violation of their person happened upon them be whole and have options?  Yes.  The problem is that most of the time the things that we want, balance and justice, are things that no society is without.  It is unfair.  It is unjust.  It is not complete.  But these things, added to the hundreds of thousands of blessings that we see every single day in this country are what make up the fabric of Life.  What our "USA Democracy" points out is that the best way to protect everyone, is to make it difficult for any of them to have their own way.  In this way, disparate interests have to be dedicated and resolved in order to get ANYTHING done.  Only in instances where their is a preponderance of agreement (response to 9/11) or a subversion of this system (ObamaCare through reconciliation) anything happen quickly.  No matter the method, it usually results in government overreach.  

These calls for "less democracy" or demonizing the process because of how cumbersome it is can be made, but it usually made by those who would wish to subvert the "will of the people" and impose their own.  More than likely they would be the ones to benefit by a subdued or quiet (read:  drugged or muzzled) populace.  They will couch it in conversations about how our system of government is broke, or is antiquated.  They'll focus on the low opinion American's have in the "congress".  They intentionally omit the fact that a strong majority loves THEIR congressperson, they just don't like congress as a whole.  What these policy makers really mean is that "we the people" are too stupid to know what is in our collective best interest and it sure would be easier if they could just do what they know is best.  In spite of the terrible and irresponsible fact that the much of the American people are less informed than they ought to be - we still have a strong involved contingency that should not be ignored.  No matter if their views are traditionally from the Left or the Right. Our founders recognized and created a system that not only recognized that tension created between these two groups - but used that tension in a practical way - to prevent any one group from getting too much too fast.  So, I'll let you have your extreme view.  You let me have mine.  And together, in this slow, incremental and illogical system - we'll keep making progress in our own way.