Too Many Chefs in The Kitchen

Does no one understand how our representative form of government works?  I’m reminded of the old saying “Too many cooks spoil the soup.”  We’ve got too many people who think its their job to do the cooking and no one understanding what the recipe is.

In my town the city council recently passed a controversial program where council districts could propose sites meeting specific criteria on which to establish legal homeless encampments.  The intent is to create limited, contained spaces that would protect the homeless and as well as any surrounding area and would provide needed social services to the homeless.

This is a new program, just passed, and details are still being discussed.  No sites have been proposed.  The resolution promises that citizens will be made aware of any proposed sites and have the opportunity to comment before the site is confirmed or removed from the proposal.

Nonetheless, there are protests already when, for example, a group of citizens hears a rumor about a proposed location.   Citizens think they should know every site that anyone is even remotely being considered.  They want to see every draft of the proposal as it is written.  And they want all this now. They protest without any actual facts or any reason for the protest other than that they just don’t like the ordinance and think they must know about every breath their council-person takes.  Not only is this disruptive, it also tends to overshadow or eliminate any actual and productive discussion on this issue.

This is just a small example of typical reactions to governmental processes, yet it reflects two important problems that are threatening our democracy.

         1.   Lack of understanding of representative democracy and the people’s role in it. 

Ours is not a pure (direct) democracy in which each and every person has a direct say and in which, as a result, the majority or loudest voice always prevails.  Rather, ours is a representative democracy in which the people hold the power but exercise it through their elected representatives.  

Our government is defined as a Democratic Republic because it operates on principles of both democracy and republics.  It is democratic in that the power ultimately belongs to the people (though exercised by those they elect) and republican because it includes certain rights that are inalienable (not subject to overrule by the majority) and protected by a document such as a constitution, creating rule by law rather than by pure majority.

In such a system, the people must understand their responsibility to select and elect wise individuals who will represent them, and then they must trust those individuals to carry out the daily operations of governing which the people have entrusted to them and elected them to carry out responsibility.  That means that the individuals are not directly involved in every act and every decision made by their elected voices.

And yet we often have the people wanting to look over the shoulders of their representatives, commenting on every keystroke on the computer, commenting not only on drafts and works in progress but even on ideas that are nothing more than part of a brainstorming and compromising process. 

This is not a problem in government alone.  Today everyone seems to think that they are experts in everything and are reluctant to leave the real experts to do their jobs.  The difference is that in governmental duties, if we think that our representatives are not up to the task, we the people can replace them and that is how we fix it if they cannot do their jobs.  We do not jump in thinking we will do their jobs for them.

This interference in the work of the elected officials is not what is meant by government of/for/by the people.  Rather, the people’s input is first and foremost at the time they cast their vote, and beyond that, as to specific governmental functions and processes, they will include specified times and manners for input from the electorate to their elected representative.  Moreover, the people are always free to provide input to their elected officials in any number of ways including phone calls, texts, emails, letters, letters to editors, peaceful protests, etc.

To put it bluntly, the people need to wisely elect, and then let those they elected do their work.  The people need to pay attention to what those they elected do, so that if dissatisfied they can elect someone else in the future, but the people cannot actually butt in and themselves do the work they have assigned to their elected representatives. 

         2.  The unrealistic need for immediacy combined with a belief that each person is entitled to have their way

The citizenry have to allow the processes to work, understanding that for a well-reasoned and rational government there needs to be time to think and not simply react.  And, the citizenry also must understand that because this is a democracy where all and often diverse voices are heard, they will not always get all that they want and indeed at times may be fully disappointed at the outcome of the process.

Yet, we have many in this country who become hysterical at even the thought that things won’t go their way, who demand immediate and favorable to them action on their cause.  And if such immediate gratification is not forthcoming they do not wait for the wheels of government and the democratic process to turn; rather, they in one way or another try to blow it up.

Take the recent SCOTUS leak of a draft opinion possibly overturning Roe v. Wade.  A DRAFT opinion.  In the Court, as with most governmental offices, documents go through several drafts before being finalized and the final document may have little if any resemblance to the initial draft. 

Yet even the thought of Roe v. Wade being overturned sent people and advocacy groups and the press and even the Administration into such a tizzy that not only were many pro-life offices and organizations bombed and hit with other terror attacks, but demonstrators went in violation of federal law to the homes of Justices to protest and one person has now been charged with attempted murder of a Justice.  All because of a first draft that may or may not become reality and a need to immediately demand consolation and retribution for a decision that does not yet exist that is displeasing to those reacting so immaturely to it.

This is not a problem of just one political party (though currently it seems to be the only operative reaction of Democrats who raised it to an art form inciting hysteria over almost every word and even perceived thought of then President Trump).  But we must acknowledge that both sides do jump to conclusions based on rumor and innuendo and then demand that there be some fix for that which has not even yet occurred. 

This is not healthy for several reasons.  First, jumping to unfounded conclusions and then reacting emotionally and sometimes violently is incredibly destructive.  It denies any opportunity to calmly and rationally view an issue, discuss any number of ways of resolving it, and then working to find a solution that addresses concerns of all sides on the issue. 

It also denies the ability to resolve an issue based on actual facts rather than rumor, perception, innuendo and emotion.  When people take positions based on irrational and unfounded beliefs, it is hard to retract and later find common ground.   There are no well thought out objections or discussions, but simply people essentially yelling either “yes” or “no” and demanding they get their way regardless of reason, thought, or possible compromise.  It is really an adult form of infantile name calling and bullying and is in no way productive.

            We need to review and reset our roles in this government of ours.

Everyone in this country, citizens and elected officials alike, need to go back and review our form of government. 

We the people need to understand the importance of our vote, because it is that vote that determines how our voice will be represented.  We need to keep current on what our elected officials are doing and use the processes available to us to voice our opinions to them.

The elected representatives also need to review and understand what their job is.  It is to represent the voice of their electorate – to speak for those who elected them – and not to simply plow forward with their own agenda regardless of the wishes of their constituents. 

Right now we have too many chefs in the kitchen.  The people’s representatives cook the meal, but it must be the meal that their constituents have elected them to cook.  And if the meal is to be edible, then the people must let the chefs they have chosen cook that meal using the recipe given them by the people without nit-picky interference from the people.

And everyone needs to understand that doing it right takes time.  Good laws, regulations, decisions take time to consider the facts and the consequences of various actions.   Interference in government, if done without understanding, can do more harm than good.

Vocal protest is useful to a point, but citizens must understand that in our form of democracy you don’t just keep screaming until you get your way.  A protest expresses the deep passion about an issue by a group of people and it can be a way of telling elected representatives how that group feels.   But resolution of the issue requires more than passion.  It requires time and reason - two things that seem to be lost right now and with them the functionality of our democracy.