Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Not always. The majority of voters wanted someone else.
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The majority of voters would, as de Tocqueville I think noted, vote themselves the treasury if allowed. This is why we don't allow simple majority rule.
If you doubt me on this, talk to a dozen or so average people in varied locales and get back to me.
The problem right now is we've an insanely rich and powerful minority, and a collection of insanely powerful corporations, who are buying themselves control over the country.
The fix is not the disaster that national majority rule would create. (We might as well declare the country insolvent and disband the government if that should ever become the ruling structure.) The fix is to pare the power of the companies and individuals who currently have so much power over policy. These same people have roughly the same power regardless of who is president. Oddly, populism has kicked the door open to people at least thinking about that.
What really needs to happen is left and right wing populism fusing. That would create a power bloc that could overcome corporate and insider control over policy. That's why people freak out over Bernie and Warren. They fear that someday, and soon, the right economic populists will realize the GOP is lying to them and start aligning with the more broadly accepting left wing economic populists. There could be a huge detente, a grand bargain, in which the left and right wings of populism decide to push economics to the forefront and put their cultural differences aside. Both really want much of the same thing -- living wages and decent health care. They may come together out of recognition of a shared enemy in the Top 10%, or eventually be forced to come together out of necessity. (I think that's what causes Jamie Dimon to flip flip out when asked about "socialism." We're approaching a day where more socialism is going to be necessary, and I see no way of stopping it.)
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