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Hi all,
I too am an idealist. But I am working within the system, to elect those
people that I believe do not fit the mold that you ascribe to politicians.
I agree that there ARE many elected 'leaders' whose values you describe.
But not all. I happen to be lucky enough to have a pretty good set
of electeds in my local area, although that was not the case a 10 to 20
years ago. Fortunately, good people stood for office and were strongly
supported by the local activists. For a while we didn't win. But then
things turned around. Now I am happy with almost everyone.
Cynicism will only carry you so far. It will not make the schools better,
keep the groundwater clean or keep family planning centers open. It
will not help build neighborhood cohesion or fix potholes. It is really
the despair of idealists that lets democracy slide the slippery slope.
So, chin up guys. Go out and find the sort of people willing to run,
yet still holding to your basic values. It can be done, but not
necessarily everywhere or all the time.
The Internet has become a place where candidates can say their piece
to the voters at very modest cost. It may be a 10% factor in this fall's
elections for the top posts (Governor and Senator here in California).
In time, it may become an even more important forum for discussing
political ideas.
Let's hope so!
Dennis Paull
Los Altos, California
>Ed Weick wrote:
>> All we know is that many are self-serving and that, as my friend
>> said, power corrupts. What we have learned - or some of us have - is
>> that we cannot trust our leaders, and that is why we must circumscribe
>> their behaviour by laws and process. ^^^^
>
>The problem is: Are those laws really written by _"us"_ ? Or rather by
>> that "ruling class", to fit _their_ needs ?
>
>
>[snip]
>> So here I am, a one time idealist who has become something close to
>> being a cynic. If I believe in anything it is in the power of
>> democratically established laws and the circumscription of leadership.
>
>"Democratically established" ? Or rather "written by oligarchy and (more
>or less) agreed _indirectly_ by a (more or less) informed majority in a
>representative democracy" ?
>
>Today's Western democracies are about as close to ideal democracy as
>Stalinism was close to classless society.
>
>Chris
>(cynic 2 ;-})
