Spiritual wickedness in high places

“The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” James 3:17
 
You gotta love democracy and citizen journalism.
 
Earlier this month the Republican Majority Leader in Michigan, Mike Bishop, was unhappy with the criticism he was getting from a particular blog.  Rather than participate in the process by posting comments to the blog, he did something really stupid.  He had staffers block access to the blog from legislative computers.  Then he justified the act with the comment that “The use of state time and taxpayer money to surf sites that are not applicable to the jobs staff were hired to do is not an acceptable use of state time or funds,”.  When asked why they didn’t block a similar blog another staffer replied, ““Michiganliberal.com doesn’t matter. They don’t say bad things about us.”
 
Fortunately power plays like this only confirm everything about Mike Bishop that he was trying to hide.  As soon as this action became better known, he had to back down and restore access.
 
The more disturbing thought, though, is why he thought he could get away with it in the first place.  After all, as an educated man, he has heard about the first amendment and the concept of free speech.
 
I submit it is because of the general climate set by our country’s leaders.  It started with an active campaign by conservatives and evangelicals against “liberal” judges that suggested that those who held these positions of trust in our government had some sort of personal agenda which affected their judgement.  This resulted in a loss of respect for our legal system in general.  It has continued as the current administration asserts that the executive branch should be able to do pretty much whatever it wants without oversight of congress or regard to law.  So it isn’t surprising that we’ve seen others in positions of power assume that the law doesn’t apply to them either.
 
Socrates and Plato were skeptical of democracy because in its earliest incarnations it was messy and unpredictable.  Towns were holding votes every day.  Those that won one vote were at risk of being put in jail or worse based on the results of the next vote.  It was not all that far removed from mob rule.
 
What tamed democracy and made it workable is the tempering influence of law and the recognition that the majority may rule, but the minority still has rights.  So even though Mike Bishop had the power, by virtue of his elected position, to shut down access to a blog he didn’t like, he didn’t have the right to do so.
 
My hope as we emerge from a dark two decades of divisive politics is that the American people will recognize that we need laws to manage the balance between majority rule and minority rights.  We also need judges far enough removed from the daily tug of politics to interpret those laws in a consistent and thoughtful manner.  That means we have to be willing to accept those interpretations, even if we don’t agree with them. 

I hope that we will rediscover an understanding that our strength as a country comes from our ability in our political and legal system to embrace our differences.  I hope that we see a return to active respectful public debate where greater understanding is the goal rather than victory.  Where the expectation is not that we all agree on everything, but that we all are willing to honor every point of view and make decisions based on what best serves the greatest good.  We have to be willing to accept the decisions that don’t go in our favor.  We have to demand leaders who can explain to all why some have to sacrifice more than others so that all can have a better life.

We have to be willing to hold our leaders to this higher standard in order to see democracy start to work again.  Fortunately you have a say in the direction this country will take every time an election is held.  Use it wisely.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.