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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us March 28, 2005 Commentary Mob rules: too much democracy Rob Asghar From the IBP (Imaginary But Plausible) wire service: WASHINGTON - In response to a popular outcry, Congress is rushing to enact a family protection law this week, one that will force Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt to reconcile their differences and have at least three children. "This is a time for all Americans to stand up and take control of their lives," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "And by 'their lives,' I mean Brad and Jennifer's lives. My own ethical lapses pale in comparison to the egregious dissipation of one of America's most recognizable marriages." In light of recent surveys revealing that 53 percent of Americans favor quick action to keep Hollywood bombshell Angelina Jolie from further home-wrecking, it is believed that President Bush will soon propose a bill to preempt any such efforts on Jolie's part. In slightly related news, San Franciscans are lining up at polling booths to vote on which substances Barry Bonds should be able to use. Question: What is the common denominator in the following scenarios? o Congress meddles in the Schiavo family melodrama. o Millions of Americans believe that, regardless of what a genuine record industry expert such as Simon Cowell believes, it's their prerogative to decide who America's next idol should be. o The upcoming Miss USA pageant will for the first time invite in the general public to help crown a winner. Answer: It is all too much democracy. At this stage in Western civilization, the only thing that appears to matter is how the public feels. At any particular moment. This is not simply people power; it is a cancerous explosion of democracy. Foreign affairs analyst Fareed Zakaria wrote about the matter a few years ago in a book titled "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad." In a chapter titled "The Death of Authority," Zakaria provocatively noted that American society exalts the fleeting and flitting opinions of the public as past generations would have treated an oracle from the gods. The arbiter of good taste was once an expert or critic of some training, Zakaria noted; now the arbiter is solely the public. Once a person could be a success if a few experts whose opinions mattered judged his work to be substantial; now all opinions are equal, and one's worth is based on how many opinions are in your favor. This is very populist and very American in nature. But is a mildly interested Eddie Lunchpail always the best person to judge another's work and ultimate worth? Is Edna Lunchpail truly fit to rule on matters of life and death involving layers of data and nuance she could not hope to fathom? Polls show that the majority of Americans felt Congress was merely trying to impress them in the Schiavo affair. Yet what is really telling that we even take polls on this sort of thing in the first place. Yes, it is wonderful that we are not subjected night and day to the oppressive pontificating of snobby experts. How refreshing that we believe in the people, all the people, rather than entrusting all matters to guilds of elitists. But we have forgotten that the pendulum can swing too far in the opposite direction. And it has. Illiberal democracy was Zakaria's term for democracy run amok, a public that was more interested in its own whims than in what might be best, a public that has to be restrained through bills of rights and constitutional protections. Are you and I, Joe and Jane Sixpack, fit to overthrow tyrants? More often than not, yes. Are we able to judge which wine has the finest topnotes? More often than not, no. Can we judge which opera singer is the most skilled? Nope. Do we understand the complexities of a euthanasia case as well as professional judges trained in the nuances of the constitution? No chance in hell. The first step toward making an illiberal democracy liberal again is to encourage humility on the part of its bosses: the general public. It needs to stop taking its pulse so constantly. It needs to begin to place at least a small amount of trust in its designated experts - judges, wine critics, the whole snobby lot of them - and stop believing that majority opinion is the only measure of decency or success. 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