Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Why Does Glenn Beck Hate Democracy?

Why does Glenn Beck hate democracy? He attacks the notion that America is a democracy on his show and idiotically asserts that the word "democracy" appears in the U.S.S.R., but the fact of the matter is it does not. He also continually reminds his listeners that Adolf Hitler was elected democratically, so why is Glenn Beck opposed to the thought that America is a democracy? I had come up with one simple conclusion.

Democracy is built on the principle of "majority rule." America is a representative democracy, or as Wikipedia states:
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to either autocracy or direct democracy.

The representatives form an independent ruling body (for an election period) charged with the responsibility of acting in the people's interest, but not as their proxy representatives; that is, not necessarily always according to their wishes, but with enough authority to exercise swift and resolute initiative in the face of changing circumstances. It is often contrasted with direct democracy, where representatives are absent or are limited in power as proxy representatives.
Sounds like America, correct? While we vote for the president, the Electoral College elects the president, but in most cases, the Electoral College votes with the will of the people. Consider local elections, where the winner is determined by a plurality of those who cast votes, but in most cases the election is divided between two candidates, a Democrat and Republican, and either one or the other receives a majority of the vote. This leads to why Glenn Beck and the right-wing are in opposition of a democracy and it all boils down to health care reform.

With talks of reconciliation, the use of a simple majority to pass legislation, the democratic principles behind such a move, majority rule, would be a bad thing if you were against the legislation from the start. With democrats controlling more then a simple majority, and with the bill passing both chambers of Congress, the minority party is trying to impose the will of the minority over the will of the majority, which is not very democratic. In all fairness, the Democrats won, sweeping through the 2006 and 2008 elections, and given that this is a representative democracy, then a simple majority vote would seem far from wrong. Enter Glenn Beck and the conservative spin machine to attack the very thought of democracy in order to preserve their legislative goals and political agenda, not the democratic principles this nation was built upon.

Even looking at the right's argument against democracy, what they say about the Republic is even wrong. Considering we the people have elected our Congressmen and Senators to make decisions for us, and with a majority of those elected officials doing just that. The opposition to health care reform equates to the minority throwing a tantrum until they get their way, and if anybody had ever witnessed a child throwing a tantrum in a grocery store, you always get rubberneckers who have to watch, and once in a while, someone offers an opinion on how to get the child to stop, either by sympathizing with the child or with the parent. That is what Beck is hoping for. His tantrum is attracting people to his cause, and the rest of Fox News is there to keep the narrative going...

From Wikipedia:


Countries highlighted in blue are designated "electoral democracies" in Freedom House's 2010 survey Freedom in the World.  Republics of the world as of 2006. red - full presidential system - green - executive presidency linked to a parliament - olive - semi-presidential system - orange - parliamentary republics - brown - republics whose constitutions grant only a single party the right to govern

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