Repairing our Broken Government

I've just finished reading "Broken Government" by John Dean, self-described recovered Republican and Watergate-era legal counsel in the Nixon White House. In the preface, Dean asserts that "this book is hard on Republicans", because "they have demonstrated during the past several decades a remarkable incapacity to govern at the national level and should accordingly be held responsible for the damage they have done to democracy."

Dean observes that with a Republican in the White House for 28 of the past 40 years, presidential appointments have shifted the government to a more conservative position in an attempt to cater to those with the same philosophical bent, and not for the greater good of all Americans. He then asks the inevitable question, How did we get here?

Modern conservative Republicans tend to relate to some common themes and principles. Defining government as the problem, tops the list of persistent complaints. Why therefore, do zealous conservatives seek public office? The answer would appear to be a Trojan-horse style attack from the inside, to dismantle and break the thing they despise. Contempt for the system makes it easier to ignore or defy the process therefore destroying the system all along the way. Ultimate destruction would prevent them from enriching themselves, so they are compelled to leave some semblance of the system in place. Just the hind quarters, that can be thoroughly pounded into submission.

In contrast to the scorn for the system, is the desire for authoritarian power and rule, as witnessed by the Bush/Cheney administration's efforts to build upon the theme of the unitary executive powers of the Oval Office (and the office down the hall). We remember the adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In addition to the expansion of the executive branch, Republican presidents in recent history, have sought to transform the judiciary based on their own ideology. This has left us with a diminished federal justice system, and a highly politicized bench. Checks and balances be damned. The appointment of justice Sotomayor is a small reclamation of a tlted federal bench. There's still a long way to go to undo the long list of presidential appointments from Nixon through Bush II.

The Republican led Congress threw out notions of civility and bicameralism in favor of  closed sessions and last-minute votes on huge bills loaded with earmarks. How ironic that they they now find any hint of being shut out of the process as totally unacceptable. They created and perpetuated this unconstitutional broken system in the House and now want to decry it when it doesn't work in their favor. Democrats have made moves to correct the ship of state, but without reform efforts, limiting the influence of lobbyists and campaign contributions, the problem will persist for some time.

The prevailing assumption, particularly within the media, has been that Americans suffer a serious ignorance of civics and governmental process knowledge, preferring to focus on character, celebrity and personality over the more mundane day-to-day aspects of how the government actually works to get things done, or not as the case may be. The media has responded to survey data, by minimizing their focus on process issues, indicating that most of us are confused by the intricacies of process but able to grasp policy. However, when polled in greater detail on this topic, Americans show a surprising grasp of process and have trouble digesting policy issues.

An apathetic electorate permits the most egregious offenders to remain in power year after year. It seems that with the election of Barrack Obama, and the enforced majorities in the House and Senate, the pendulum has swung and the fear of a completely broken governmentthat Mr. Dean envisioned, when the book was published in 2007,  may have been staved off for the short term.

Republicans seem to operate best as the minority, where they can whip up a fervor of emotional outpouring from supporters driven by a fear of big government. The party is now dividing itself along conserrvative and moderate lines. This would appear to be a further weakening and an indicator that it will be quite some time before a phony "Contract with America" can sway the idependant voters to put Republicans once again in charge of our beloved democracy.

The accounts in this book gave credence to my gut feelings about many issues and crystalized what I already knew to be true. I'll recommend this to my conservative friends, but doubt that I'll get any takers.