THE PRAIRIE EDITOR: The Threat Of "My Way Or No Way At All" Politics

Once again anti-representative democracy forces are

clamoring for the institutions of government to do

things “our way or no way at all.” We observe this

impulse arising not only in militant, often violent, protest

groups, but also from elected officials who risk either

defeat by voters or their extreme policies rejected by

independentpublic institutions they do not control.

In the case of the protest groups, many of which are

mostly populated by naive students organized by

professional radicals and groups, the most disturbing

aspect has been the feckless response of many university

officials when the protests became violent or coercive.

Interestingly, in most cases the protest gtoups’ extremis 

activities have provoked a negative backlash in the

communities outside the campaus or wherever they

take place.

The totalitarian impulse employed by extremist forces on 

both the left an right adopt historic ideologies and 

sloganeering of dictatorships, communism, fascism, 

socialism or anarchism to impose themselves on everyone 

without popular consent.

The extremist groups have always been with us, but their

radical or reactionary policies rarely succeed in a

majoritarian society.

When supposedly more moderate figures in 

representative democracies resort to this tactic, however,

it is much more disturbing and unwelcome.

Recent examples include the dysfunction in the U.S.

House of Representatives where a small faction of the

majority Republican Party stymied action of its own

party and leadership in conducting the orderly process

of legislation. This minority resisted any reasonable

compromise on certain issues, and disrupted the

legislative process for much of the recent term.

On the other side, individual Democrats in the Congrress

are proposing “packing” the U.S. Supreme Court with

additional members who would then outnumber the

current majority and produce decisions that they favor.

The Supreme Court was created as an independent

third branch of the U.S, government. Members of the 

Court are appointed by the president and confirmed by

the  U.S. Senate. Their decisions thus reflect indirectly

the contemporary views of the voters. Some Courts

are therefore more liberal or conservative, but this

changes over time as older justices are replaced with

newer ones. The original Court was established in the

Constitution and initially had six members, but

the present number of nine was settled in 1869.

The most notable past attempt to “pack” the Court

occurred in the 1930’s when President Franklin

Roosevelt, a Democrat at the height of his national

popularity, became frustrated by a conservative

Court which struck down some of his legislative

proposals. But even though his party controlled the

Congress and he was so personally popular, the idea

of “packing” the Court was considered tampering with

the principle of three independent branches of the

government, and was rejected.

These are only two examples of several all-or-nothing 

ideas being expressed today by politicians who should

be more respectful of the unique constitutional balance

which has enabled our representative democracy to 

evolve, thrive and endure, as it has for more than 230 

years, and remains a model for the free world.

_______________________________________________

Copyright (c) 2024 by Barry Casselman. All rightd reserved.