Wonks

Walter Russell Mead is one of the most clear-eyed and accurate analysts of our current situation around. I always feel like I understand what’s going on in the world better after I read one of his articles. Unfortunately, lately it seems that most of those I run across are behind paywalls, but this one, Twilight of the Wonks, isn’t. I commend it to your attention.

Democracy

I sometimes see people complaining that some provisions in the Constitution, like the Senate or the Electoral College, are “anti-democratic”. There is some truth to that: under Constitutional design the United States of America is not a democracy, it’s a federal democratic republic. That’s because the men who wrote it had studied history, and knew that pure democracies usually quickly degenerate into demagoguery followed by tyranny.

The difference is that a democratic republic has mechanisms intended to prevent any one group within the community from concentrating power. The prime historical example the founders had, the one the word “republic” comes from, was the Roman Republic, which lasted roughly four hundred years. (The transition of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire had a variety of causes, most of which basically come down to “the checks on power that worked for a small, geographically concentrated government stopped working when the state grew too big.” This is one of the reasons the United States is a federal republic.)

Most of the people who complain about these provisions have political goals that they see these provisions frustrating. When they make these complaints, they reveal themselves as would-be tyrants.

Protests

I keep wondering what the guy who immolated himself in front of the Israeli embassy thought he was accomplishing. Did he really think he would change anyone’s mind?

But then, I wonder the same thing about pretty much any kind of “protest”. Blocking traffic because of “climate change”? Yea, you’ve most likely antagonized all those drivers trying to get to work, and made them resent your cause, not support it. Rioting because “Black Lives Matter”? (Whoever said they didn’t?) Everyone who values civilization now views you with disgust. For that matter, how did the January 6, 2020 protest work out for Trump’s cause?

I don’t pretend to understand people well enough to say what is the best way to persuade others to support your cause, but I’m pretty sure having a protest of some kind isn’t it.