LETTER: American democracy

To the editor:

    There were three articles in Wednesday’s Statesman to which I am responding.

    The front page article about students leaning right in political preference quotes Professor Lyons as saying, “There is no such thing as a viable democracy without political parties, I would fear any attempt to operate a democracy without parties.”

    Even our head of the Honors program, Christie Fox, mentioned in Wednesday’s paper that we should be “contributing member[s] of a democracy…”

    Guess what?! We’re NOT a DEMOCRACY. Never have been and God-willing NEVER will be. The USA was set up as a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC. The Founders were against direct democracy as a form for our national government. I think university professors should know this.

    Our original American Federalism was astoundingly brilliant, with the people, the states, and combinations of the two, all having representation on the national level. Unfortunately the 17th Amendment and modern unconstitutional practices of executive order and judicial review (legislation by the wrong branches) have mocked and destroyed these crucial checks and balances.

    Justin Hinh wrote, “with the loss of (moderates comes )the loss of any sanity in our political process.” This is very sad but in practice has been true. Why? Because of the flawed party system we have allowed to develop.

    In regard to Hinh and Lyons, I quote George Washington’s famous farewell address, citing the flaws and danger of political parties,

    “They (political parties) serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community.”

    He is right.

    Solutions? A moral and educated populace is always the first and foundational answer. Vote on principle, not party. If enough of us did this instead of blindly voting party, there would be be choices in our political system, not just the fast or super-fast options of the same socialist train.

Dave Nilson