Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Democracy....An Ugly but Necessary Institution

Democracy….An Ugly but Necessary Institution

I might be a grump but I’ve always struggled to be a decent person. If you aren’t hugely smart that's the only recourse….for the wrong reasons as well as the right. Often I find myself doing the right thing for the wrong reasons and I know God is shaking her head and saying Mercy, Mercy, Percy, Percy.

For example we have a town clerk who is extremely bright and hard working…That is the best kind of public servant….someone who always knows best with the energy to make it happen. As it often happens with such people they have their detractors….People who don’t like her and there are always these grumbles to find someone to run against her….yeah right…People think all a town clerk has to do is take minutes at a monthly meeting….get real…It is a huge job and running local elections is a small but complex part of it…The chairman is replaceable as are the supervisors….The treasurer would be more of a challenge but doable, however, the clerk….I shudder to think what her loss would mean to the town.

So I told her the other night she has my support for the right as well as the wrong reasons….She asked what those were and I responded because she is an honest person, a decent human being, is the best person for the job and would be darn near impossible to replace. You see the distinction there….“Right reasons/wrong reasons?“ I think the reasons people give for what they do tell a lot about who they are.

Now this brings us to the word “reason” and people tend to give it a very generous latitude….Many of the things people give as reasons are not reasons at all. They are gut generated, emotional inclinations or hunches, made on the spur of the moment. There are rational reasons and emotional reasons and the term “Emotional Reason” is actually a contradiction in terms.

Before the Greeks invented the problem solving process, emotion, self interest and power were the arbiters in decision making. This process has not gone away, however rational problem solving has replaced the traditional process as being the most political correct. This is because science uses the rational process and people like to claim that the weight of science is behind their decision-making.

So what they do is make their hip shot decisions using emotive reason and then go retrospectively and explain it using the scientific process. One of the great amusements in life is seeing this played out over and over….I think I will write a play where this is the theme so the audience can see it in action….It’s sort of like hidden dialogue….I’ll call it "hidden reason" and would no doubt garner a Pulitzer Prize… if it didn't hold up to ridicule one of the great dodges the pseudo smart like to use.

Politicians are the worst for this, but we all do it all the time…They vote a straight party line and then explain the “Reasons” for what they did….There is no reason to it at all…Its all monkey see, monkey do. For the rest of us is the stock phrase....well you know the "real reason I did it was thus and so.... One of these is the Hate me Hate my dog reason...Have you ever seen someone who always take the opposite position just to get your goat?

Theoretically in a Democracy a person is elected from one party or the other which shows their natural policy inclination on issues….However they are still expected by the electors to examine each issue on its own merits and make laws that are in the best interests of all the voters…..not their personal self interest, or the interests of the special interest groups or the interests of their political party but in the best interests of the people….DUH! Is there anyone who thinks the process comes even close in this regard?

When the Greeks invented democracy they would have been the first to tell you that it had warts…as a matter of fact most of the great statesmen they produced called it a terribly ineffective process, however they went on to say that it was ten (10) times better than the second runner up.