Red, White, and Doom?

"I‘ve seen democracies fail around the world. They don‘t all succeed. And some of them have a pretty good run and then fail. At some point, the system just fails. Nothing gets done. We‘ve had democracy in Greece fail and the colonels take over. I don‘t want to get extreme about this, but at some point, Americans are going to get really tired of a Congress and government that doesn‘t operate effectively and respond." - Liberal Democrat Chris Matthews this past week on Hardball.

"Parties and Partisanship are destroying this democracy." Conservative Republican Joe Scarborough this past week on Morning Joe.

"According to Paul Krugman, the winner of a Nobel prize for economics and a columnist for the New York Times, modern America is much like 18th-century Poland. On his telling, Poland was rendered largely ungovernable by the parliament’s requirement for unanimity, and disappeared as a country for more than a century. James Fallows, after several years in China as a writer for the Atlantic Monthly, wrote on his return that he found in America a vital and self-renewing culture that attracts the world’s talent and “a governing system that increasingly looks like a joke”. Tom Friedman, another columnist for the New York Times, reported from the annual World Economic Forum in Davos last month that he had never before heard people abroad talking about “political instability” in America. But these days he did." - The Economist, an article this past week

"This, argue the critics, is what happens when a mere 41 senators (in a 100-strong chamber) can filibuster a bill to death; when states like Wyoming (population: 500,000) have the same clout in the Senate as California (37m), so that senators representing less than 11% of the population can block bills; when, thanks to gerrymandering, many congressional seats are immune from competitive elections; when hateful bloggers and talk-radio hosts shoot down any hint of compromise; when a tide of lobbying cash corrupts everything. And this dysfunctionality matters far beyond America’s shores. A few years ago only Chinese bureaucrats dared suggest that Beijing’s autocratic system of government was superior. Nowadays there is no shortage of leaders from emerging countries, or even prominent American businesspeople, who privately sing the praises of a system that can make decisions swiftly." - The Economist, a different article that ran this past week

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." John Adams, about 200 years ago (being quoted by economists in the past several weeks)

"The average lifespan of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years... Then once a society becomes successful, it becomes arrogant, righteous, overconfident, corrupt and decadent . . . overspends . . . engages in costly wars . . . wealth inequity and social tensions increase and it enters a secular decline." Scottish Historian Alexander Tytler, about 200 years ago (being quoted by economists in the past several weeks)

It is wise to view doomsday mentalities with a healthy dose of skepticism. The majority of the time, these contribute little to a constructive discourse, and even less to constructive action. That said, it is also wise to listen in on what the contrarians are saying in times of comfort and complacency. As an investor, for example, it is prudent to listen to what the bears have to say in periods of market bullishness; those who ignore these voices do so at their own investing peril. Failure to do so, I would argue, is simply a failure to do your due diligence. Since the summer of 2001 when I started investing, I made it a point to read both bullish and bearing writers. Over that period, I have found the bearish argument to be much more compelling. Years ago, there were investment writers and economists who predicted a sharp decline in the real estate market and in the stock market, and a severe recession, while the herd of bulls were calling for Dow at 18,000. The bears were right. Similarly, when level-headed political types who have devoted their careers constructively to the public debate -- when they caution about the pending collapse of our democracy should the politicians in Washington maintain its destructive course, it is foolish to ignore these sentiments entirely. In the years I have been reading the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Economist, Politico, and other news sources -- I have never seen so many vocalize their concerns about the potential for a complete collapse of the U.S. Government than I am reading at this moment.

On Morning Joe last week, Joe Scarborough went on to blast both parties for being "idiots of history." He adds, "It's a food fight with children on both sides. Where have all the grown ups gone? You HAVE to TALK to the other side. Grow UP!" It is no wonder that 64% of the American public now favors having third party candidates in political races. Politicians are not elected to serve a party or the powers that preside over the purse -- they were elected to serve the people. To serve the people, politicians must legislate in a bi-partisan fashion. We must start working together before we really screw things up.

"Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half." - Plato, about 2400 years ago

Peace

Jeremy