Essentials for Democracy

While "democracy" typically means "one person, one vote", a "true democracy" requires a few ground rules or you gradually evolve into "so-called democracy" like Venezuela and Iran. Democracy also is a "bottom up" exercise rather than a "top down" exercise.  Elections alone don't define an effective democracy.

What is required to maintain a viable, effective democracy?  (Are these American Values?)

 -  Educated and informed electorate:

          Ignorance of population is a prime indicator of success of a democracy.
          Lack of knowledge by populace of fundamental issues.

          Generally reflective of a deteriorating public education system.

          50% of Americans believe the earth is less than 6,000 years old

 -  True Free Speech: 

           Challenging citizen's patriotism if you don't agree with tour policy is unacceptable.

           Intolerance and extremism are the antithesis of democratic discussion. 

           Free speech also includes constructive criticism of local, state and federal governments.

 -  Transparency in Government:

          Secrecy in government rulemaking and daily operations lead to distrust of elected representatives.

          Democratic leadership is more effective if elected officials acts as educators, not demigods.

          Oversight by another branch of government over the branch operating is critical to transparency. 

 -  Separation of church and state:

          Secularism, religion tends to be dogmatic, issues are good or evil.  Need middle.

 -  System of checks and balances:

          Balance between executive, legislative, and judicial bodies

          Loading the Supreme Court with agenda motivated political judges

 -  Limited abuse of Power:

          Trust vs constantly making incorrect decisions with no acknowledgement.

          Responsibility for decisions made and actions taken is required recognize problems and make the adjustments necessary

 -  Economic Viability:

          Benefits of economy must be spread through population or become a 2 class society.

          Long term economic deterioration will result in an electorate voting for politicians who will give the most handouts.

          Government spending without effective and definable results will cause dissention.

          A progressive and moderating income tax structure will flatten the playing field.

          Uncontrolled immigration, documented or undocumented, could undermine balance of labor and compensation.

 -  Corruption in Government:

          Limitation of power of Special Interest Groups (e.g. lobbyists, unions, etc)

          Appear to have more influence over rule making and policy direction than general population.

 -  Regulatory Burden:

          Regulations out of control, expanding government intervention into everyday lives and business.

 -  Presumption of Innocence:

          Democracy gives the benefit of the doubt to the accused..

Do you ever get the feeling that there is often a disconnect between you and your elected representatives both in state and the federal government.  Does it seem that your priorities and their priorities just don't match and when the government does pass legislation, the new legislation often does more harm than good. 

Put simply, it seems like the government is increasingly straying from reality and really doesn't understand what is important to Americans.  There is actually a term for this phenomena, it's called "spin" and both political parties are increasingly guilty. 

The real question is why American's don't hold their elected representatives more accountable for judging what issues are important, developing legislation that solves the problem, and then implementing regulations that correctly interprets the intent of the legislation.

In trying to make sense of politics, it seem like there are 2 kinds politicians.  The first are those with strong principles who often utilize emotions to enforce their principles.  (Keep in mind that everyone has principles,.  It's just that one person's principles may not be the same as someone else's principles.) 

The second type are those with a better understanding of cause and effect.  These are the politicians that actually think about the short term and long term repercussions of taking certain actions.  These politicians may change their mind based on new information and understanding.  Unfortunately, the more liberal democrats and more conservative republicans don't think this way.  In fact they will aggressively attack these individuals as less principled and "flip floppers".  There are not very many of this type of politician left in our government.  Shouldn't America start electing representatives that actually think about the future affect of their legislation?