More signs of the crisis in California's "democracy"
I wonder if people are noticing that democracy as a system is more in crisis than in past elections, and that its ineffectiveness and irrelevance are increasing.Some signs-
really low voter turnout
nearly 50/50 split on a lot of state ballot measures
why the hell is it appropriate for voters, including non-union members, to decide what can be done with union members' dues? that stuff should be decided by the rank and file in each union, local by local!
I think that the influence of absentee ballots is really significant. In my family, going out to vote was a big deal- it was part of a tradition. (the polling station was nearly 2 miles away, at the elementary school that I had attended for 3 years, so we'd drive, and have to look for parking, and it'd be dark out in november, and my mother would go into the booth and pull the curtain closed...) People are using absentee ballots as a way to avoid going in to vote, (further) distancing themselves from the decisionmaking process. Are people becoming alienated and thus avoiding voting, or is the bullshit alienating them?
Sigh. Oh, on Forum on Monday (on NPR), I heard an interview with a couple who had just published a critical biography of Mao. One of the things they said about the people's revolution was that the workers (people) were totally burnt out from long-ass meetings. this is why I continue to say that there has to be some other way to make decisions. Consensus is exhausting, and you have to be trained on how to use it. And if it's not done properly, it is TORTURE! We'll come up with something eventually.
posted by mahtin @ 11:06 PM
<< Home