Just what is this problem Lieberman supporters have with democracy — you know, the will of the people and all that? 

A little history is probably in order (I’ll keep it short so no one gets a headache).  As you likely already know, the people themselves didn’t always get to elect their senators: Up until May 31, 1913, the constitution provided for the selection to be made by a vote of the state legislature. 

But then along came an earlier generation of liberal troublemakers in what came to be known as the Progressive Era.  These malcontents (without blogs even) had the audacity to suggest, among many other things, that maybe, just maybe, the democratic process should be used in selecting senators.  And thus was born the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution:

Clause 1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

(My emphasis)

Shocking!  The people themselves, in all their unwashed glory, getting to directly pick who represents them in the United States Senate.  It’s a wonder the Republic has survived for as long as it has.

But, alas, I suppose it’s the fate of liberals (who by definition are supposed to be optimists about human nature) that people will often end up disappointing us, at least a little.  And to be honest, the 17th Amendment hasn’t exactly worked out the way our ancestors hoped it would.  Far from becoming a vibrant new playground for democracy, the direct election of senators has been perverted into little more than a bought and paid for travesty, where only those who can (often by dubious means) raise huge mountains of other people’s dollars (or spend huge mountains of their own) have any chance of gaining election.

And yet, something very special is rising up out of the rubble right now — an honest to God popular uprising against a well entrenched incumbent.  Joe Lieberman, who is not only a three term incumbent (and thus by definition a made man), but also a former Democratic Party vice presidential candidate, is facing the very real possibility of losing in the primary to an upstart (a richer than double-fudge cheesecake upstart, to be sure, but then you can’t have everything).

This is the real deal.  This is honest to God democracy of a kind we don’t see nearly often enough. 

So what’s the judgment of the elite political punditocracy?  Are they shouting for joy over this sudden outbreak of democratic spirit? 

That would be a no.  As the consistently excellent Joe Conason noted in a recent column:

The conventional narrative of what may become Joe Lieberman’s final campaign for public office—parroted faithfully by pundits and politicians who admire the Connecticut Senator—is a moving tale of courageous dissent in the very maw of fanatical extremism. It is the story of a supremely decent public servant, purged by party activists with a mean-spirited, shortsighted, single-issue obsession. And it is a fable with a familiar moral, supposedly proving once more that the Democratic Party cannot be trusted to protect America.
 
Compelling as this account of the beleaguered Democrat’s travails may sound, it is very much like his position on the war in Iraq: wrong, superficial and divorced from reality.

According to the standard version, Mr. Lieberman is the victim of ferocious “liberal bloggers” from around the country. Dispersed across the United States, these meddling left-wing activists somehow conspired to launch Ned Lamont’s primary challenge, and then somehow mesmerized voters, perhaps via the Internets, to reject the Senator they had chosen three times before. Combining Internet technology with progressive ideology, the miasmic and unwholesome blogosphere now threatens to swallow poor Joe in a cloud of angry, buzzing bytes.
 
So a New York Times columnist denounces the Lamont campaign as a “liberal inquisition.” A Fox News commentator cries out for the “soul of the Democratic Party and the future of civility in American politics.” A syndicated columnist clucks that the end is near for “anyone who is going against the grain with unpopular views, or telling the faithful what they need to hear as opposed to what they want to hear.” A Washington Post columnist warns that  “as the party moves to the left now in this primary season, it moves away from positions that will be winning in general elections.” And a former lobbyist for the Christian Coalition, magically transformed into a Democratic strategist, mocks Lamont supporters as “McGovernites with modems.”

A odd bunch these neocons like Lieberman, don’t you think?  They don’t mind killing people by the thousands to try to transport democracy to other countries, then they turn around and resent it when folks here at home try claiming a little for themselves.

at com xanax business extended

Officials from these jurisdictions argue that using at com xanax business extended while driving is an impediment to vehicle operation that can increase the risk of road traffic accidents.

drug facts xanax

Caller ID signals are sent during drug facts xanax interval between the first and second bursts of the ringing signals.

xanax beta blocker

Between the 1980s and the 2000s, the xanax beta blocker has gone from being xanax beta blocker item used by the business elite to a pervasive, personal communications tool for the general population.

xanax and kids

The first SMS text message was sent from xanax and kids to a xanax and kids in 1992 in the UK, while the first person-to-person SMS from phone to phone was sent in Finland in 1993.

xanax the affects body on

7 billion by end of 2006 according to Informa[citation needed], and 3.

is of what made xanax

Files can be sent to is of what made xanax phone by direct connection (e.

xanax upjohn

3 Billion dollars in 2007 and gaming was worth over 5 billion dollars in 2007 (source Netsize Guide 2008).

by suicide overdose xanax

Mobile telephony also facilitates activism and public journalism being explored by Reuters and Yahoo![3] and small independent news companies such as Jasmine News in Sri Lanka.

xanax center replies community message

At present, Africa has xanax center replies community message growth rate of cellular subscribers in the world,[12] its markets expanding nearly twice as fast as Asian markets.

xanax picture of identification

For this reason, most retailers will refuse the return of xanax picture of identification SIM Card.

This entry was posted by Steve on Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 at 5:18 pm and is filed under Comment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.