Populism: just say no.
My response to a general 17th-amendment bashing (yeah!) at this xanga site:
Hukee [the previous respondent], it isn't just the left that likes the amendment. Most Americans, right or left, are populist. Amendment XVII is about populism, which is strongly tied to the idea of pure democracy, the people decide what is right. Populists are pro-majority, and believe that they should always be the majority. Most mindless "liberals" and "conservatives" hold to this view, whether or not they realize it.
Christian/social conservative right-wingers are largely populist. Even Mike Farris is a populist in some ways and thinks the seventeenth amendment was a good thing. Much as I respect a lot of his opinion on the constitution, I can't agree with him on this.
Right-wing populists are proud of the redness of the "who voted for bush" map, Christianity, killing terrorists, and the heartland of America. The majority of Americans oppose partial-birth abortion and gay marriage, and therefore they should be outlawed. These populists view left-wingers as outsiders, as academics, artists, or bums (alas, they often stereotype academics and artists as necessarily left-wing) who are out of touch with mainstream America. Right-wing Christian populists are anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant in general (though they may disguise their views as anti-terrorist and anti-illegal) because these groups will take power from we Christians who built the nation and made it free - a Christian take on a hallmark populist view. They say, "Remember, America was founded as a Christian nation." They don't realize how carefully the founders crafted the Declaration of Independence to avoid making it explicitly Christian.
Eschew populism. Argue from the authority of the founders or come up with your own arguments on political positions, rather than appealing to public opinion or even what public opinion was in the '50s.
Edited for slight clarification/toning-down of opinion. Note also that America was founded on a combination of Christian, classical and rationalist ideas - Christianity is a key basis of our government, and would have been even if Franklin and Jefferson wrote it themselves.
Hukee [the previous respondent], it isn't just the left that likes the amendment. Most Americans, right or left, are populist. Amendment XVII is about populism, which is strongly tied to the idea of pure democracy, the people decide what is right. Populists are pro-majority, and believe that they should always be the majority. Most mindless "liberals" and "conservatives" hold to this view, whether or not they realize it.
Christian/social conservative right-wingers are largely populist. Even Mike Farris is a populist in some ways and thinks the seventeenth amendment was a good thing. Much as I respect a lot of his opinion on the constitution, I can't agree with him on this.
Right-wing populists are proud of the redness of the "who voted for bush" map, Christianity, killing terrorists, and the heartland of America. The majority of Americans oppose partial-birth abortion and gay marriage, and therefore they should be outlawed. These populists view left-wingers as outsiders, as academics, artists, or bums (alas, they often stereotype academics and artists as necessarily left-wing) who are out of touch with mainstream America. Right-wing Christian populists are anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant in general (though they may disguise their views as anti-terrorist and anti-illegal) because these groups will take power from we Christians who built the nation and made it free - a Christian take on a hallmark populist view. They say, "Remember, America was founded as a Christian nation." They don't realize how carefully the founders crafted the Declaration of Independence to avoid making it explicitly Christian.
Eschew populism. Argue from the authority of the founders or come up with your own arguments on political positions, rather than appealing to public opinion or even what public opinion was in the '50s.
Edited for slight clarification/toning-down of opinion. Note also that America was founded on a combination of Christian, classical and rationalist ideas - Christianity is a key basis of our government, and would have been even if Franklin and Jefferson wrote it themselves.
posted by Derby at 06:15
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