Democracy is done

You may have heard the story our senators are telling. They like to say that now that the impeachment trial is over, they can get back to doing the people’s business. It’s sort of an inside joke. What they don’t want you to know is that there are a few hundred bills that have been passed by the House and are now sitting in the Senate, going nowhere. Why not? In a democracy, isn’t the government supposed to reflect the will of the people?

Well, we don’t really live in a democracy anymore. The president wasn’t elected by a majority of the people. The majority party in the Senate doesn’t represent a majority of the people. The unelected majority on the Supreme Court was appointed by presidents who did not get a majority of the vote. So the majority of the people aren’t really represented in our government.

A bipartisan majority of the people agree that Congress needs to act on health care. Instead, this administration is working to end health care for tens of millions of people. A bipartisan majority agree something needs to be done about gun violence. The unelected NRA says no. There’s no denying that prescription drug costs need to come down. The pharmaceutical donors say no. People in every area of the country could benefit from having an infrastructure bill passed. Think of the jobs that would create. Even Republicans agree that something more needs to be done about election security. And yet, nothing happens. Why not?

Well, as I said, we don’t really live in a democracy anymore. Think of it this way: A democracy is where the Democrats try to respond to the will of the people. But, as Ben Franklin told us, we have a republic. That’s where the Republicans are too busy trying to please the king to worry about taking care of the business of the common people.

MICHAEL FOX

Conway