POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S DANIEL HANNAN
'The US, born out of a popular revolt against a remote government, was built on the Jeffersonian principle that decisions should be taken as closely as possible to the people.'
Wrong, Daniel Hannan, but understandable since even many Americans do not understand their own government's history.
The United States government was modeled to resemble the British one. People like Franklin, Adams, Washington, and Hamilton deeply admired the British form of government despite having fought a war. It was considered to be the highest form human government had reached.
Their revolution was really about not paying taxes for benefits they already enjoyed, and believe me, little has changed there. The revolution has accurately been described as home-grown aristocrats replacing foreign ones.
The American Senate, which remained an appointed body until 1913, was loosely based on the House of Lords. An unelected body was considered important for a sober second-thought to what an elected body decided.
Not only that, but the Senate had the real power, which it still has. It must approve all the president's administrative, court, and diplomatic appointments. It must approve all treaties with other countries.
Even today, its manner of election leaves it at best a quasi-democratic institution. Elected only every 6 years, only one-third of Senators are elected at any one time. This leaves them completely safe from the public's deep concerns of any given time.
The anti-filibuster rule, requiring a 60% vote to bring an issue to a vote, is also quite anti-democratic.
Because there are only two Senate seats per state, a Senator from California represents more than 16 million people while one from Vermont represents about one-third of a million. Do you believe the Senator from California (or Texas or New York) ever even sees most of his/her constituents?
A Senate seat is reckoned to cost upwards of ten million dollars to buy all the advertising nonsense today. Senators start running for the money as soon as they've finished running for the office. It is estimated a Senator spends two-thirds of his/her time going after campaign donations. Near to the people indeed.
And I guarantee it ain't the little guy that gives the required money. Senators are bought and paid for by special interests.
There's even a good deal of fathers-then-sons stuff. Inherited seats.
It's an antediluvian institution. Look at all the fat, crinkly faces there, and you'll understand what I mean.
The president originally wasn't popularly elected. The popular vote didn't count. Only the vote of the Electoral College, essentially a group of political insiders, counted. That legally is still true today, which is why America can still have a minority president like Bush. The system is a mess.
Popular voting originally included only white males of a certain age and, importantly, with a certain wealth. It is estimated that 1% of early Virginia could vote. That's about the same percent as the Chinese Communist Party represents today. And it was hardly any improvement over the British parliamentary system of the day.
The Founding Fathers did not like the word 'democracy.' Washington, Hamilton, and others feared it. The word was treated about as 'communism' was in 1950. That's why all the controls in the Constitution against popular government.
A number of the Founders wanted an appointed-for-life president. Some wanted a ten-year term. Compromise simply weakened the office, and the presidency, in domestic affairs, remains quite a weak office.
I could continue, but I'm sure you get the idea. It took two hundred years to democratize the United States, and the job is far from done.
I'm sure, Daniel, being close to government in Brussels gets a person down sometimes, but, believe me, Washington is one of the most unpleasant places on earth in which to spend time, unless you enjoy watching money and privilege having expense account lunches. It's nothing but money and privilege.
