Beyond Representative Government
Finding a new paradigm for democracy
By Mike Meyer
We definitely have a problem with democracy. It’s difficult to ignore although a large percentage of the American population is very hard at work doing just that. The majority thinks the problem is Trump and the disastrous collapse of the Republican Party into a racist and fascist front. That is a problem and an ugly one but, as I and many others have been saying, these are symptoms that are part of a much larger problem.
In fact I’ve come slowly to realize that I’ve been stumbling around the problem for the last six months and refusing to see it. I’ve even said it several times in the way you do when you are trying to convince yourself while talking to someone else. It’s hard to overcome a lifetime of indoctrination and belief. I’ve spent a lifetime paying taxes, working for political outcomes, defending the country, working, educating students, raising children and then grandchildren. All of this was done, reluctantly sometimes, but in the end as American.
I’ve given up on this emotionally several times over the last forty years but not really. It’s not the kind of thing that you can easily give up because we have so much of ourselves invested. And for everyday living it has been good until you realize that the technologically driven…
