Give It Our Best Shot

The day after the March 4 primaries is as good as day as any to write about what is a liberal. Most people do not know that the original liberals were opposed to the divine right of kings and the church’s, (with a small “c”) support of this doctrine. There was a time not too long ago when people were ruled by kings and queens and their right to rule over the lives of their people they believed came from god, and so the doctrine was called the divine right of kings. The church placed itself next to the king and queen just like the bishop’s position on the chess board and supported them and the concept of divine right. It was only many years later that the church decided that democracy was not such a bad idea. But as men discussed and questioned why kings and queens ruled by divine right, a movement developed that came to the conclusion that god had given every man certain inalienable rights. These discussions continued and evolved. First there was Life, Liberty and Property. Later came Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. When this country started out on its great experiment in democracy, everyone did not have the right to vote, nor were all offices directly elected by the people. With time, voting rights were extended to all males, black and white, and then to women. The direct election of Senators came about too. So, the liberal as some of us are called had a hand in shaping the democracy that we all enjoy today. I personally do not care for divine right or a theocracy, but I do believe in markets of the economic kind.

Now let’s talk about economics. The economy is divided into three sectors. There is the private sector or the individual households. There is the corporate sector made up of the major businesses that actually are part of the private sector. Finally, there is the government sector. The government sector hires a lot of people from the private sector and gives them jobs. The government also buys products and services from the private sector to make government run. But somewhere along the way, things got more complicated and involved. The corporate sector wanted to sell products and services to the government even if the government did not need them. So, the corporate sector hired people called lobbyists, they hung out in the lobby, to influence and make a case for their products and services. Later, having sold their product or services, corporate wanted the level playing field tilted in their direction. Let’s raise the pitcher’s mound so we have an bigger edge over the batter. Because technology plays a role, TV became a friend to those running for office, but TV cost money to buy commercials. So now we have politicians raising huge sums of money to get their image on the TV. Where does the huge sums of money come from has become an issue in and of itself. But just as it seemed TV and money were going to determine elections forever, technology, like once the printing press and movable type, brought forth another invention. The personal computer and the laptop have brought a new dimension to the discussion. While money for TV will still dominate, ideas can be transmitted over the Internet and large pools of money can not stop this transmission of ideas.

Now all we need is an electorate smart enough to know when someone is blow smoke, or as we say in the vernacular, trying to blow smoke up your ass. The human spirit to survive is a strong one. People will if given a chance will ferret out the best solutions. That does not mean that countries have not made mistakes. Every country makes its share of mistakes. The important thing is that we remain free to work out our problems as a nation for ourselves. That’s what elections are all about. A democracy is a new experiment every day. There are no guarantees how things will come out. But, we can give it our best shot.
Stay tuned.