Too Much Democracy Goin' On 'Round Here

"Uncle Sam" as played by GW Bush

Too Much:

Debt.

Welfare.

Un-Funded Mandates.

Deficit Spending.

Unemployment.

EPA Legislation.

Bad 'Reality' TV Shows.

Episodes Remaining of "The View".

There are a LOT of things which we, as Americans, have 'too much' of.  I was thinking last night about these, and other 'bad' things we have in abundance in our Nation. 

I was thinking this just before going to sleep but now I'm thinking that there was something else I was thinking about, but what was it?

Hmm?  What else do we have too much of in the Good Old USA?

Oh, I just remembered!

In America, we have 'TOO MUCH DARN DEMOCRACY'!

Yes, as I lay my head down upon my hay bale, I think to myself, "Mike, of all the things in America of which we have too much, or too many of, yeah, Democracy has GOT to be in the Top Five!

Actually, thinking back, I must have dreamed this.  Because in dreams irrational becomes the norm and the fantasy becomes reality.  It's nothing I could have imagined in any state of wakefulness.  Right?

No.  Wrong again, hay breath...

Welcome to a new Era in Government. 

Welcome to 2011! 

Welcome my son, welcome to the Machine...


Please enjoy the above Moo-sical Interlude as you read the remainder of this post

September 29th, 2011 is the day in which I learned that the #1 problem in America is that "We have too much Democracy".

My words?  No.  I haven't lied to you yet, right?

Let's turn our eyes south (or north, east, or west, dependent upon where you are reading this) for a few moments and meet Governor Bev Perdue, D, N.C. 

Her comments were reported in the NewsObserver:

File this in the random-things-politicians-say file. Speaking to a Cary Rotary Club today, N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue suggested suspending Congressional elections for two years so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election.

"I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that. The one good thing about Raleigh is that for so many years we worked across party lines. It's a little bit more contentious now but it's not impossible to try to do what's right in this state. You want people who don't worry about the next election."

Once she realized what she had said 'Out loud' and 'In public' she sent her 'peeps' out to clarify what she actually meant:

Later Tuesday afternoon, Perdue's office clarified the remarks: "Come on," said spokeswoman Chris Mackey in a statement. "Gov. Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what’s best for the people they serve."

Hold on, please wait a moment while I look something up...

hy·per·bo·le

   /haɪˈpɜrbəli/ Show Spelled[hahy-pur-buh-lee] Show IPA

noun Rhetoric .

1.  obvious and intentional exaggeration.

2.  an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”

All rightey then!  She was just using an 'obvious and intentional exaggeration' to make her point!  NOW I get it! 

Thanks, this clarification was extremely helpful in getting my mind 'straight' about what she meant, as it is NOT what she said. 

But, if she didn't 'really mean it', what's up with this line from above?  "I really hope that someone can agree with me on that."

It's like James Brown shouting, "Can I get a witness!?!?"  As he danced through "Living in America".  I think James actually wanted a witness.  But once again, I'm only projecting what I think he meant, based upon what he said (or in the case of Mr. Brown, as he 'danced and shouted'). 

Perhaps I'm Hyperbole-impaired?  Maybe I'm too literal?  In any event, I figure it all comes down to ME 'not getting it'.  I'm sure the Governor of North Carolina is a really nice person. 

Sorry for wasting your time.  Go and enjoy the remainder of your day!  It's not like anyone else is saying the same thing as the Governor, quoted above, right?

Oops...

Here comes Peter (CottonTail) Orszag, formerly of the Obama Administration, posting on The New Republic to completely gum up the works for me (and here I thought I was on the road to 'enlightenment'):

During my recent stint in the Obama administration as director of the Office of Management and Budget, it was clear to me that the country’s political polarization was growing worse—harming Washington’s ability to do the basic, necessary work of governing. If you need confirmation of this, look no further than the recent debt-limit debacle, which clearly showed that we are becoming two nations governed by a single Congress—and that paralyzing gridlock is the result.


So what to do? To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.

Wow, thanks Peter!  Now I'm, um, really confused!  (Jerk) 

I leave you today with a quote. 

Not my quote, but rather, someone who saw much more than I, hopefully, ever will...

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." - Winston Churchill

Oh, what the heck, I'll take a stab at one myself...

Democracy is like your teeth.  Without brushing, flossing and proper care, it (they) will go away - only to be replaced with a false version of the same.  --  Mike Kane
(Written September 29th, 2011, the day Democracy was determined to be in 'too much' supply)

God help us all.