Our American form of government has often been hailed (usually by Americans) as the penultimate form of democracy. It was founded on the idea that voters would elect representatives who would then govern based on what they believed was in the best interest of their constituents. This seemed to work reasonably well when you elected your local guy, he traveled hundreds of miles away to Washington, and did what he felt was best. Periodic news reports and summary performance evaluations came home to the electorate, which provided the basis for determining reelection.

The beauty of this form of representative democracy was that it allowed elected officials to act as surrogate parents to the masses. That is, their success was measured by the success of those in their care. If their constituents thrived, then the officials were judged “good parents”. One of the key latitudes afforded parents is the right to act in the best interest of the child, independent of the child’s wishes. We’ve all been there, many of us as parents, and certainly all of us as children. Mom or Dad says that “this is for your own good.” There is a trust built into the relationship that the parent knows best. Granted, this is not always true. Some people are abysmal parents, and they are judged over time to have failed. But in the vast majority of cases, parents are making better decisions than the children would have made left on their own. The reason for this is primarily that parents have a larger context of experience and knowledge to draw upon in their decision making. In a similar way, your elected officials are assumed to have a larger context in which to make decisions that are ultimately in your best interest.

Unfortunately, we do not live in this world any longer. The 24-hour news cycle, the Internet, incessant popularity polls, and the glut of political poparattzi, have all combined to create a world in which the “parents” are under constant evaluation and judgment by the children. Imagine what would happen in your house if every small decision you made was up for review and judgment by the kids. If you knew that losing popularity with the kids meant you might well be voted out of the house. This sort of micromanagement would create an environment where the parent would quickly become ineffective, and the household would likely descend into chaos.

Yet this is the political environment we have today. Every word out of every politician’s mouth is under scrutiny. Those words need to appeal to the popular wisdom of their constituents, lest they be voted out of the house. There is no breathing room to make hard choices that may defy popular wisdom, but be prudent in the long term. You need to look no further than the recent stimulus debacle for evidence. This package is a very hard choice. It is medicine for our own good to help heal the wounds that are arguably self inflicted. The idea is, that it is success in the long term. But the amount of political posturing that surrounds it is obscene. People positioning for short term political gain, rather than trying to find a way to make the long term success greater.

I’m torn here. I certainly don’t want to opt for a secret government. There needs to be transparency and accountability. But maybe the issue is push vs. pull. If I want to look for detailed information on my government, it should be available to me. But maybe it would be best if it wasn’t pushed at me 24×7. Especially pushed in a way that was motivated by garnering TV ratings and subscription renewals.

There’s a difference between keeping secrets from my kids and sitting down every night at dinner and sensationalizing my medical insurance options to elicit opinions from them.