DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA

By Bill Bonner
"The sovereignty of the people is an abstract principle...one can use it for good or for
evil. If the interests of the nation require it, no sacrifice is too great. The terror of the
Bolsheviks was done in the name of 'the people.' Fascism and nazism also invoked the
name of 'the people.' And the 'democratic' wars, which bloodied the world for two
centuries (incomparably more deadly than the 'aristocratic' wars of the past), found
their justification in the same high principle..." ~ Lucien Boia

The Myth of Democracy

"We're saved," said a newspaper in Paris, commenting on last Sunday's elections, in
which Jacques Chirac trounced Jean-Marie Le Pen. "France is still a democratic
nation...at least we'll be able to vote."
Never once in our entire lives, have we ever heard anyone exclaim: "It's such a beautiful
day...I feel like voting today!" Nor has anyone but a fool ever willingly passed up an
opportunity for a good meal in order to stand in line at the polling station.
And from personal experience, not once did we ever look forward to entering the
voting booth, nor ever regret the passing of election day.
And yet, voting is a "civic duty," we are told. It is the way in which citizens of a
democratic nation get to express themselves, it is argued...perhaps not always getting
what they want...but at least what they deserve.
Not that there was ever any chance that Jean-Marie Le Pen could close the voting
booths. The old coot has been accused of many things, but even if he had wanted to,
there was little likelihood that he could restore the Bourbon monarchy...or install
himself as dictator. And even if he had been able to do so - would it really make any
difference?
In politics, as in so many other things, the Daily Reckoning recognizes that it is at odds
with popular opinion. The burden of proof rests with us; we will not shrug it off.
Instead, we will turn to a recent book by Lucien Boia, The Myth of Democracy, to help
make our case.
We wish readers to know that we do not take these positions merely to be contrary or to
cause mischief. Nope. We are completely earnest. Or at least as earnest as you can be
when you are offering market commentary for free on the internet.
Our market perspective comes not from studying charts, graphs or econometric models
- but from a reckless frolic in the mushy interior of the human heart. There, we find all
manner of absurdity...and can't help commenting on it. And so today, fresh from Mark
Skousen's Foundation for Economic Education convention in Las Vegas, we find
ourselves back in Paris, our suitcases bulging with absurd souvenirs and mementos of
our trip.
Seated at the FEE gala dinner, I had the good fortune to find an old friend, a charming
woman who had recently gotten out of jail.
"What was the worse thing about life in prison?" I wanted to know.
"It was being bossed around by morons...people who have to stand on tip-toes to reach
the bottom rung of the I.Q. scale."
"Do you notice much change on the outside?" I asked. For I had just given my speech on
how individual liberty in America had given way to the needs of empire. I thought this
might stir her up.
"Americans are increasingly bossed around," I had observed. Then, explaining why I
had moved to France..."Curiously, an American in Paris seems to have fewer people
telling him what to do."
There are surely as many meddlers and pettifogging functionaries in one country as the
other. In fact, there are probably more in France. But at least when you are a foreigner
you don't notice them as much.
The trend of the entire Western world since the American Revolution has been toward
more voting and less liberty. "Give me liberty or give me death," said Patrick Henry, at
a time when government regulations were almost non- existent and the total tax take
was less than 3%. What could he have been thinking?
Perhaps he was referring to the liberty of a people to decide who gets to boss them
around. Mussolini described the concept better than Henry. "Fascism," he explained, "is
for liberty. And for the only liberty which can be a real thing, the liberty of the State and
of the individual within the State. Therefore, for the Fascist, everything is in the State,
and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the State.
Fascism...the synthesis and unity of all values, interprets, develops and gives strength to
the whole life of the people."
People exercise this collective liberty by voting. That is what Democracy is all about. At
first, in America and elsewhere, only a few people voted - white, male, landowners.
New Zealand was the first country to allow women to vote - in 1898. Since then, more
and more people have received the liberty to cast ballots.
Early in the last century, it was thought that voting was the key to peace, prosperity and
freedom. Even today, most people believe this - after a century of evidence to the
contrary. In WWI, the major combatants had already instituted universal manhood
suffrage. Fat lot of good it did them. And after the war, it was almost universally
believed that the spread of democracy would prevent future wars. Hardly a decade
after the Armistice, people in Germany voted Hitler into office, while Italian voters gave
Mussolini their highest post.
Nor does democracy make people richer. One of the greatest economic success stories
of the post-war era was Hong Kong - whose residents never had the right to vote for
anybody.
Are people who live in democracies more free? Not on the evidence.
But it is not just the evidence that is damning...it is the theory too.
Question: What is a democracy?
It is a country in which people get to decide for themselves who gets to boss them
around.
How do they decide?
By voting.
But who votes? On what? When? How? Is it a democracy when fewer than 10% of the
people can vote - as in Classical Athens? Or, when almost everyone votes and all votes
are recorded for the same person, as in the Soviet Union? Or, when only one person
gets to vote?
"Whole libraries have been written on the subject [of what is a democracy,]" writes
Lucien Boia. "The fact is, democracy refuses to be bound in a simple, unequivocal
formula. It's a moving target, with multiple and contradictory personalities. It is not a
'thing,' nor even an 'idea'; it is a mythology."
Louis 16th of France was no democrat, Boia points out. He was an "absolute monarch."
He was considered almost divine, with power, so it was said, unrestrained by the
popular will. It was a system of one man/one vote. And Louis was that man.
And yet, what could Louis do? He could make war. But he would have to find a way to
raise money to pay for it. He could ask bankers to finance it. He could try to levy taxes,
but good luck.
Louis could do none of these things without the support of a great many people in
many different positions. In fact, he was hemmed in tighter than a Baptist
deacon...restrained in every direction. His ministers might oppose him, or the church,
or his moneylenders, or the bourgeoisie. Even a negative comment from his mistress
might cause him to lose heart.
Louis could proclaim a law. But who would enforce it? He could announce a war...but
whom could he get to fight?
It was said that Louis was all-powerful. In the simple- minded logic of the late 18th and
early 21st centuries, if Louis had all the power, ordinary citizens must have none. But
compared to today's elected George and Jacques, Louis was barely more puissant than
an American voter. And, in the end, like Tsar Nicholas II, not only could Louis not
prevent a revolution, he lacked even the power to save his own life.
When the revolutionaries broke down the doors of the Bastille - considered the symbol
of Louis' repressive regime - they discovered the truth. The Bastille was almost empty.
Louis could repress almost no one. Absolute monarchs disappeared from the planet not
because they had too much power, but because they had too little.
Today, thanks to the blessings of democracy, citizens of the Land of the Free and other
western democracies pay taxes 5 to 10 times higher than those under the absolute
monarchs...and submit to rules and regulations that Louis could never have imagined.
Today, America's prisons are full...and the president can make war on just about
anyone he chooses.
But freedom and democracy are part of America's national mythology. And who are we
to complain about it?

Bill Bonner