Cry the Beloved Country—The Formerly United States

The irony is profound. The political party that calls itself “Democratic” turns out to be deeply anti-democratic. No only has it betrayed the American people; it has betrayed the principles upon which the United States of America was established. It has literally placed our national unity in jeopardy.
Senator Lindsey Graham has rightly called the legislative extravaganza surrounding health care legislation “sleazy.” It is that, but much worse. It is a scandal of epic, dare one say, historic proportions. Besides revealing public corruption on a massive scale, it is an arrow shot through the heart of our democracy.
Consider the many points militating against the Senate’s so-called health care reforms.
One, it raises taxes on most Americans via unfunded mandates on the states.
Two, it forces ordinary citizens to purchase private health insurance—at what will surely be inflated prices.
Three, it arbitrarily interferes with the relationship between patients and their doctors.
Four, the preliminary legislation was passed in the dead of night, scarcely read by those who endorsed it.
Five, its rules were utterly lacking in transparency. Not only were they not posted on the Web, but purposeful efforts were made to shield them from public scrutiny.
Six, nor is this what the American people want. As poll after poll has shown, a large majority of voters is opposed to what was put forward.
All the above clearly goes against the spirit of democracy. It violates the sacred compact between the people and their elected leaders. But what happened is far worse; far more dangerous to what America represents.
The spectacle of senators being bought off to support a supposedly valuable program was hardly elevating. It disclosed a venality that scarcely brought credit to the participants.
Nevertheless, senate majority leader Harry Reid shrugged this off by saying “that’s what legislating is about.” But is it? Is providing goodies for individual states in order to buy a few votes truly democratic? Granted it has happened before, but has it ever occurred on such a flagrant scale?
Once upon a time, we called this corruption. It was something that transpired in banana republics; not among our more enlightened legislators.
Still, this is not the worst of the deal. The worst is that the legislation incorporates different rules for different states. What happens in Nebraska is not the same as Kansas. The bills paid in Florida differ from those paid in Georgia.
As Francis Fukuyama has argued, democracy is built on trust. People support democratic governments only if they believe them grounded in fairness. Once it is clear that some states will get better breaks merely because their legislators were more skilled at horse-trading a confidence in honorable outcomes is sure to evaporate.
While it is true that the states are free to legislate diverse laws for themselves, it is a different matter when dealing with the federal government. Our ancestors created a “federal republic” precisely to overcome the jealousies and bickering under the Articles of Confederation. These Founding Fathers learned from personal experience how divisive untamed localism is.
We are about to learn the same lesson. As the states are pitted against each other, the glue that holds our union together is likely to lose its adhesive power. And with it will exit the strength provided by united numbers.
Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama did not intend it, but they are wringing the curtain down on a wondrous political experiment. They are answering Benjamin Franklin’s question about whether we are capable of sustaining a republic in the negative.
Isn’t this a strange outcome for a program intended to be national?
Melvyn L. Fein. Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University