One of the key strengths and weaknesses of Democracy is its people. The power the people hold strengthens the government and provides officials a mandate for action. However, these same people are not always speaking in unison. Often, well always, there are conflicting voices and interests and these conflicts weaken and stall the power and action of government.
Most recently, this weakness of Democratic government has become apparent in the slow response to the Gulf Oil Spill as well as the bumbling response to the financial crisis. Let's start with the oil spill. A national disaster if there ever was one, the spill has devastated the gulf ecosystem and severly damaged the fishing economy of the region. Yet in the early days of the spill, I say days but really they were weeks, there was limited to no government response. Trying to balance the outcry of the people with the force of the big oil lobby inevitably drew out the reaction while millions of gallons of oil gushed into the fragile gulf ecosystem.
Likewise, the financial crisis that plagued the early Barack administration was met with similar shaky decision-making. Even riding on a surge of support in his 'honeymoon period' passing and selling the 'bailout' was not without hiccups. From the beginning there was vocal disapproval of federal intervention; things only got worse when reports of CEO bonuses became public. And throughout it all, while the voice of the people was being heard, little was being done.
Democracy, a system for the people by the people, suffers the faults of the people. Democracy is saddled with quarrelsome citizens, indecisive lawmakers, and interest groups jockeying. Democracy is, in many instances, slow and inactive. Am I arguing that we should embrace a totalitarian government? No. But we should not look past the shortcomings of our current system.
Yafei
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