"We believe....

...in democracy, except when we don't."

That seems to be the going thing, especially by the arrogant elitists out there.  (I know the arguments that there are no "democracies," not per se.  I don't agree and have written about that before.)  Apparently, if the people decide/vote the ways the upper crust want them to vote, all is fine and dandy.  Democracy works!  But if they don't, well, it doesn't and the arrogant ones have to save us from ourselves.

I was reminded of this with the continuing Brexit battle in Britain.  In 2016, if I remember, British voters opted to leave the European Union.  The margin was slim, about 5%, but the turnout was pretty high.  The reasons aren't important here.  The British voters may have been right, may have been wrong.  But, if one believes in a democracy, that people can rule themselves (at least indirectly), don't people also have the right to be wrong?  And if one believes in democracy, one also believes that, eventually, people will get things right.  In Britain, those who know better are putting up a whale of a battle to prevent Brexit.  Apparently they are winning.

I think that is happening here in the US.  The arrogant elitists are trying and have been for going on three years now, to overturn the 2016 Presidential election.  Like Don Trump or not (and I don't), he was duly--legally and Constitutionally--chosen President of the US.  But those who are smarter than the rest of us have worked hard, expending and wasting how much time, energy, money, and other resources, to undo what Americans did.  The doo-gooders (and I do mean "doo") are trying to save us from outselves.

This one is more tenuous, especially here in Michigan.  I am not a fan of "emergency manager laws."  They have been used, with moderate success, by governors to save citizens from themselves.  Duly elected, say, school boards have been replaced by appointed emergency managers.  I understand that sometimes money comes from other sources than the school districts or cities and an argument might be made that, having a vested financial interest, outside bodies/people can step in.  I'm not sure I buy that.  Is it naive of me to believe that if people/voters choose the wrong paths, they should be able to sink or swim on their own?  Should cities and school districts (at least their government functions)  be allowed to collapse from the weight of their own incompetence and/or corruption?  It's a tough question. 

But it leads me back to my original statement, "We believe in democracy except when we don't."  It reminds me of what I've said about schools for years.  Those who run them are fond of the refrain, "We're here for the kids."  I add something.  "We're here for the kids except when we're not."  By the way, I don't necessarily believe in that, that education is necessarily primarily "for the kids." But that's a topic for a future post.