Jon Stewart accurately notes that our government “Neither needs nor wants voters”.
I miss Jon Stewart. I didn’t agree with his views all the time, but his views were thoughtful, insightful, irreverent, warped, informative and entertaining. With less than one-third of American citizens now trusting the major “news” outlets to give them objective analysis, we could use a Jon Stewart again.
The other day, I came across a quote from Mr. Stewart that resonated with my Citizen v2.1 initiative and that really cuts to the quick concerning our present system of government. This is from his America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
“As heirs to a legacy more than two centuries old, it is understandable why present-day Americans would take their own democracy for granted. A president freely chosen from a wide-open field of two men every four years; a Congress with a 99% incumbency rate; a Supreme Court comprised of nine politically appointed judges whose only oversight is the icy scythe of Death -- all these reveal a system fully capable of maintaining itself. But our perfect democracy, which neither needs nor particularly wants voters, is a rarity.
Is this too cynical? I think not. It does seem that our candidates are pre-selected by their parties. We can all point to Supreme Court decisions that, while legally defensible, did not do right by the American People. And Congress -- well, Jon said it nicely: “If ‘con’ is the opposite of ‘pro’, then isn’t Congress the opposite of progress?”
So, somehow we’ve arrived at a state “which neither needs, nor particularly wants voters”. Is it any wonder so many Americans have simply tuned out. It’s pretty obvious to them that they have no meaningful role to play in their own governance.
This is why the Citizen v2.1 movement needs to ignite and burn like a prairie fire across our land. The Citizenry must demand a broader role in the making of the national policies that affect their daily lives. Once we have reclaimed the sovereignty that was supposed to be ours, perhaps we can all feel needed and wanted again, as born-again American Citizens. Can I have an “AMEN?”