The State of American Democracy

Anybody following the events in Wisconsin might be interested in a recent NYT/CBS News poll. It shows that the gap between public opinion and the policies favored by those in power is quite wide, particularly on those issues being debated and protested in Madison.  It is indeed indicative of the state of American democracy. There are many other issues similar to this that show a largely social-democratic population being ruled by “center-right” politicians.

The major finding of the poll is that people are generally on the sides of the unions in the battle in Wisconsin.

Americans oppose weakening the bargaining rights of public employee unions by a margin of nearly two to one: 60 percent to 33 percent…Those surveyed said they opposed, 56 percent to 37 percent, cutting the pay or benefits of public employees to reduce deficits, breaking down along similar party lines.

In the next paragraph, the democracy deficiency was really evident:

Governors in both parties have been making the case that public workers are either overpaid or have overly generous health and pension benefits. But 61 percent of those polled — including just over half of Republicans — said they thought the salaries and benefits of most public employees were either “about right” or “too low” for the work they do.

It’s not just Republicans. As explained in that passage, both parties claim public workers’ pay and benefits are too generous, even though the majority of Americans disagree. American politicians, including Obama, are following Europe’s lead and taking the route of austerity – “tightening our belts,” as he said in the SOTU. But what would Americans do to balance their states’ budgets?

Asked how they would choose to reduce their state’s deficits, those polled preferred tax increases over benefit cuts for state workers by nearly two to one.

And increasing taxes is exactly what American leaders have not been willing to do (Scott Walker, in fact, decreased corporate taxes). Remember that the Bush tax cuts have been extended for another two years. It’s hard to believe that at one point that the top income tax rate under Eisenhower, a Republican, was 90%. And that was a tax rate he defended. Now we can’t even get the Democrats to defend anything higher than 35% (at least until 2012).

The two biggest areas of spending in the discretionary budget – health and “defense” – are not likely to change soon, even though single-payer insurance and a greatly reduced Pentagon budget would  not only help (if not fix) the budget problems but also create a more just society and world.

But alas, that is our democracy, and such is its state.

In Wisconsin, the protesters are doing exactly what needs to be done in order to create a more democratic society, and I applaud them.