BreakPoint

BreakPoint: Which Ocracy Do You Prefer?

Can any government survive mob rule? That’s not just a question for Middle Eastern countries. Athens is rightly called the birthplace of democracy. But the ancient Athenians would be horrified by the angry mobs we’re seeing every night on our TV screens. Mind you, I’m not talking about angry mobs in Cairo or Libya, but the mob gathered in Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, and now gathering in other Midwestern states: state workers occupying public property, blocking the legislature from doing its business. These workers, sworn to uphold the state constitution and serve the public, are walking off their jobs. Why the uproar? In the face of a growing state budget deficit, Wisconsin’s Governor Walker started off by proposing legislation that would force state employees to contribute 5.8% of their income towards their pensions and 12.6% towards health insurance. But, as John Fund writes in The Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin employees would be making payments that are “roughly the national average for public pension payments, and . . . less than half the national average of what government workers contribute to health care.” What I find particularly galling is that the protestors occupying the state house are claiming the mantle of democracy, that they are protecting the “democratic process.” Not so. They are destroying the democratic process: impeding state legislators, elected by the people, from doing their jobs. No, what’s happening in Madison and elsewhere, you see, is "mob-ocracy." And it’s spreading! Now Democratic senators in Indiana have abandoned their post, fleeing the state to shut down a vote involving unions there. And in Ohio, union protesters are trying to flood the state house as legislators consider a bill that would limit collective bargaining for state employees. Mob-ocracy was what the ancient Athenians sought to avoid, in part because they knew that if the mob really had control of the government’s purse strings, government would collapse. Sound at all familiar? States are trying to cut budgets to avoid bankruptcy, and the public sector unions have unleashed the mobs. The Athenians believed in direct democracy. That is, each citizen may vote directly concerning the laws of the city. But they restricted citizenship. Probably only ten percent of the Athenians could vote! Our Founding Fathers were also wary of mob-ocracy. But they also believed in the consent of the governed and that all men are created equal. So, taking their clue from the likes of the Roman Republic, Enlightenment scholar John Locke, and Protestant Reformers like Calvin who favored a republic, they created a representative democracy, where the citizens vote for their representatives and the states appoint senators as a check on the passions of the majority. By 1913 the Constitution was amended. State legislatures would no longer appoint senators. The Senate, like the House, would now be directly elected by popular vote. One wonders whether America’s political fortunes have been the same since the 17^th Amendment. Now let’s be clear. What’s happening in these Midwestern states is not democracy. But it will be a critical test for democracy, whether our system can survive.  Stand firm, governors. Protect the rule of law. For if the mob can overrule public officials who are seeking to save their state from insolvency, then America is no longer governable, and the fears of the ancient Athenians and the Founders will have been realized.

FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION

What's At Stake in Wisconsin's Budget Battle John Fund | The Wall Street Journal | February 19, 2011 Union Protests Continue in Chicago Sandra Torres | NBC Chicago | February 22, 2011 Two Minute Warning: Politics as Usual Chuck Colson | The Colson Center | February 23, 2011 Thousands protest Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union bill in Wisconsin Scott Bauer | The Washington Post | February 16, 2011  

02/23/11