We Are Not a Democracy So Stop It
Overheard on a Sunday show today: the notion that Bush should consider pulling out, because, well, we just had a national election where people clearly expressed their preference for that.
I disagree with the fact presented in that question, but more importantly, the premise based upon that fact is utterly flawed. We do not have a democracy, we have a republic, and the reason we have an electoral college is first and foremost to insulate the President from the will of the people.
And seriously now, if we had the electoral college as it was meant to be (that is, based not on popular vote, but on legislative vote), we might not even have a President Bush today, even if he were elected in 2000. There is a very real chance the legislatures would have kicked Bush out in 2004, if given the chance.
But instead, the people chose, and they chose Bush. And he remains President until 2008, and he has no responsibility whatsoever to give a damn what the people think about anything he does.
It may be prudent for him to do it for political reasons, but he has no obligation to care, and I'd argue he has a responsibility to not care. Or at least, to not care to the point of necessarily agreeing with you. As the great Edmund Burke said, "Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."
I disagree with the fact presented in that question, but more importantly, the premise based upon that fact is utterly flawed. We do not have a democracy, we have a republic, and the reason we have an electoral college is first and foremost to insulate the President from the will of the people.
And seriously now, if we had the electoral college as it was meant to be (that is, based not on popular vote, but on legislative vote), we might not even have a President Bush today, even if he were elected in 2000. There is a very real chance the legislatures would have kicked Bush out in 2004, if given the chance.
But instead, the people chose, and they chose Bush. And he remains President until 2008, and he has no responsibility whatsoever to give a damn what the people think about anything he does.
It may be prudent for him to do it for political reasons, but he has no obligation to care, and I'd argue he has a responsibility to not care. Or at least, to not care to the point of necessarily agreeing with you. As the great Edmund Burke said, "Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion."
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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