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Does the bailout spree signal the end of democracy?


By Randy Salzman Randy Salzman � Mon Dec 22, 3:00 am ET

Charlottesville, Va. � "A democracy will continue to exist up until
the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the
public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a
dictatorship�.

"Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual
truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to
abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to
complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence,
from dependence back again to bondage."

These words � the author is unknown � are particularly sobering today.
In the past few months, Uncle Sam has bailed out Wall Street, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, home-owners, banks, and US automakers, while the
incoming administration promises a massive infrastructure investment.

Is it any surprise that cities, counties, and states are jostling for
space at the federal trough? Who's next? Big Media? Big Sports?
Agribusiness?

With the bailout "mother of all precedents," it's become difficult for
Washington politicians to say "no" to any special interest that's too
massive, too economically important, or too well connected to fail.

Nor can politicians forget the poor. Or the crucial swing voters in
the "struggling middle class." And they can't ignore seniors � AARP
members are very vocal.

Virtually every group today is trying to meet with the Obama
transition team to convey the urgency of its "crucial" spending
requests. My local paper recently informed me that our area university
is preparing its wish list for infrastructure dollars. Even the
National Council for the Social Studies and the American Sportfishing
Association have sent pitches to President-elect Obama.

Have we gone from "rugged individualism" to the complacency or even
dependency of the national trajectory quoted above?

At the time of America's founding, the Federalist Papers discussed the
dangers of democratic politicians being forced to count on the votes
and support of citizens or organizations too self-involved or
uneducated to realize that short-term individual or group gain often
precludes long-term prosperity.

And Thomas Jefferson sought to deal with politicians' catering to
their constituents' convenience by founding the University of Virginia
(UVA). He wanted an informed, intelligent, and thoughtful population
in hopes of helping democracy survive. Today, sadly, UVA is the area
university I read about in the paper seeking funds for its
infrastructure wish list.

A century after Jefferson turned UVA's first spade of earth, the 17th
Amendment provided for the direct election of US senators, instead of
them being beholden to state legislators, as prescribed by the
Constitution. Facing John Q. Public every six years instead of
legislators, senators began putting their hands out to special
interests, and, at that moment, long-term thinking by American
government took a massive step backward.

Will Virginia's new senator, Mark Warner (D), for example, feel secure
enough to stand on principle and say he can't support UVA's requests?

President Kennedy's book "Profiles in Courage" recorded only eight
incidents in American history when senators stood fast amid the howls
of their constituents or party. JFK asked for the best of us, saying
pointedly in his inaugural address, "Ask not what your country can do
for you � ask what you can do for your country."

Hopefully, we're not sliding toward "final collapse due to loose
fiscal policy," but since many of us demand "instant gratification,"
it may take another inspiring wordsmith to stymie the "me, me, me"
cacophony.

Mr. Obama, like Kennedy and Jefferson, is a man with a gilded tongue.
Can he lead us to understand that when America races to raid the
public treasury, it is, to use a phrase President Lincoln (our
greatest leader) borrowed from the Bible, "a house divided against
itself"?

Obama says he greatly admires Lincoln. Perhaps he can enjoin all
Americans to do now what Lincoln urged during a very different crisis:
"If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this
voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage"?

� Randy Salzman is a freelance writer and former journalism professor.


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