American Democracy is missing and presumed dead. It disappeared after being overwhelmed by an oligarchic tsunami that chased it from Lansing, Michigan to Madison, Wisconsin, where it finally disappeared.
Democracy’s loved ones say it was badly injured when Michigan gave its governor the authority of a king over its cities, allowing him to appoint a manager on his arbitrary judgment to overturn local laws and elections. It was still alive as the measure itself was voted on following due process; but in Wisconsin due process and open hearing laws were scuttled because corporate CEOs wanted a law passed and legalities were preventing it.
Where Democracy had been expected, Oligarchy showed up instead. The hunt for Democracy goes on, but law enforcement officials are not optimistic.
“It would take an educated and involved public, as the Founding Fathers envisioned,” a spokesperson said. “We haven’t seen that around here last few years. I suppose there’s a chance, but, who knows?
American Democracy was born when New Hampshire became the 9th state to ratify the Constitution. It led an adventurous early life, discovering judicial review, surviving a childhood bout with the Alien and Sedition Acts, and developing self-imposed term limits for its president. It’s most traumatic illness, however, was its early tolerance for slavery, which was not resolved until, at the age of four score and seven years, the Civil War ended that cancer – through its effects linger.
By the late 19thand early 20thCenturies, Democracy face a threat from corporations and businessmen that presaged its final days. Democracy’s best friend had always been the Capitalist Economy, but with the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 and other incidents, it became apparent that Capitalism was not always functioning for the good of all people – which was Democracy’s very reason for existence. By the time of the Great Depression, both Democracy and Capitalism had learned that, no matter how good a principle sounds in theory, if its application produces suffering then it must be modified. They agreed that the agent of modification was properly the government; and over the decades regulations and social programs were put in place for the sake of the common people.
Democracy survived an assassination attempt in the early 1970s. However, in 2010 its own Supreme Court, in a decision ironically known as “Citizens United”, took Democracy away from ordinary citizens and handed it over to corporations and businessmen – its historical nemeses. That trend has been abetted by another former friend of Democracy, the Press, which has turned itself over to fringe elements whose emphasis on effectiveness over truth has crippled the abilities of Democracy’s potential saviors, the People, to recognize the reality of the situation.
Which led to attacks across the nation, from Idaho to Ohio, culminating in the final confrontation in Madison.
While there is still a glimmer of hope that Democracy can be restored, that hope rests with a populace that, as the law enforcement official pointed out, “has been all too willing to remain oblivious”.
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