Teatime for Democracy

One of the upshots of this early American history I’ve been reading (see “Forward Into the Past!,” January 2) is the notion that some people thought too much democracy was not such a good idea. This was certainly true of the Federalists, who envisioned their own aristocratic leadership as the key to America’s future; it also held for some moderate [Jeffersonian] Republicans, who defended an independent judiciary against their radical brethren’s insistence that judges be more accountable to the public.

There’s also a danger of too much democracy today,and that threat looms in the form of teabaggers. A few days ago, conservative columnist David Brooks opined that the teabagger movement had the potential to not only give the [modern] Republican establishment a run for its money but also evolve into a political force on the same level as our present two parties. Scary.

What’s so scary about people taking back power, you might ask? In principal it’s not scary at all, it’s what this country is all about. Whenever I hear Patti Smith sing “People Have the Power,” it gives me chills. What’s scary is that this particular crowd seems too easily swayed by the likes of Hannity, Beck, and Limbaugh to ever begin to think for themselves. (Okay, maybe I’m just jealous because we lefties can’t agree on anything.)

I came across a fairly outrageous suggestion once (wish I could credit the source): that votes ought to be allocated by age, with younger people having more votes because they have a greater stake in a future that will be determined by the political decisions of today. That’s not too far-fetched an idea, but just try selling it to the teabaggers, whose median age seems to be about 75. The protester who insisted “Keep your government hands off my Medicare” pretty much summed it up: ill informed, quick to jump to conclusions, and too stupid to trust with choosing tomorrow’s leaders.

Unfortunately, an IQ test would be as unconstitutional as a poll tax (and we learned back in 2000 that butterfly ballots aren’t the answer). But since we already have rules that politicking can’t go on within so many feet of a polling place, maybe Fox News ought to be banned within the same distance of retirement communities.

So, what makes the People that Patti sings about different from the teabaggers? When you get right down to it, maybe not much. “The people have the power ... to wrestle the world from fools.” But first they have to recognize that it’s the fools who are egging them on.