Thomas Friedman recently wrote about a discussion he had with Frank Fukyama on the two-volume opus Fukyama is working on “The Origins of Political Order.”
Of course, I hardly ever get political here, but this article resonated with me.
“Indeed, America today increasingly looks like the society that the political scientist Mancur Olson wrote about in his 1982 classic “The Rise and Decline of Nations.” He warned that when a country amasses too many highly focused special-interest lobbies — which have an inherent advantage over the broad majority, which is fixated on the well-being of the country as a whole — they can, like a multilimbed octopus, choke the life out of a political system, unless the majority truly mobilizes against them.”
I think it’s amazing how well our nation has stood the test of time, seeing it was basically invented by a bunch of rich white men over 200 years ago. But two things always pop back up in my head – perhaps the concept of nation is out-moded and democracy doesn’t seem to have the ability to reinvent itself as radically as it was created.
In one of my novels, I have a character, who is in politics and policy, examine the whole idea and genesis of “nation”. She then discusses democracy and says:
“And the irony is that these are democracies, meaning that they are supposed to listen to the public and follow the will of the public. Yet in reality, the system is so complex that it can’t bootstrap a new system, molt into something different.
“Have you ever seen a democracy revamp itself? No, it can’t generate the necessary discontinuity of the same order that was needed to bring itself into existence.”
Part of me thinks we’re screwed if we can’t get ourselves out of this mess and that this is the worst the US government has been ever. But then the other part of me tries to think back to previous governments, congresses, and presidents and wonder if the immediacy of the stupidity and inanity of Washington DC has always been the same. Only nostalgia makes us forget.
Sigh.
Friedman’s article starts asking if we America needs an Arab Spring. And Fukuyama has some strong suggestions for change. Friedman concludes:
“I know what you’re thinking: “That will never happen.” And do you know what I’m thinking? “Then we will never be a great country again, no matter who is elected.” We can’t be great as long as we remain a vetocracy rather than a democracy. Our deformed political system — with a Congress that’s become a forum for legalized bribery — is now truly holding us back.”
I guess I’ve always been the inactive cynic. And, perhaps, I represent a large majority of the bourgeoisie of America. What’s it going to take to get me moving, if already I know the problem and just sit on my ass, like most of us.
Gah. Perhaps I should stick to science.
And now back to our regularly scheduled program…
via Down With Everything – NYTimes.com.
Note: The article got hundreds comments and I saw good ones. Sigh. If only we had better tools to follow the comments as well. Of course, I’ve ranted about this before (here in 2009 and here in 2008).
