Absolutely fascinating reading about healthcare and President Obama, Extreme Makeover, Heath Care Edition | The American Prospect. I am reminded about my class today, as we are leading up to the American Revolution. I foreshadowed with a discussion about the notion of taxation without representation. Basically, we got the silliness of the taxation issue/non-issue out of the way right away, and cut right to representation.

Colonists wanted representation not dissimilar to what they’d experienced in their colonial legislative bodies, a sort of direct representation; the English countered with the notion of “virtual” representation. Pushed by financial, social, and cultural conflict, not to mention an overly pushy English King and Parliament interested in exerting its authority, the colonists found political representation to be increasingly problematic…

Interestingly, I noted to the students, the newly minted American republic would not really achieve a fully representative democracy for many, many years, and even then imperfectly: full free (white) male suffrage by the early 19th century; African American slaves received emancipation, but limited political rights, following the Civil War; Senators were not directly elected until something like 1913; Women did not get the vote until 1920 or so; the franchise was lowered to include 18 year olds in the 1970s; and we still don’t elect Presidents by popular vote. Of course, we don’t have a single national election either, but 50 different state elections, each with different rules, enforcements and procedures, which could effectively lead to mass disenfranchisement at any time. Of course, California has referendums on many issues, including spending issues, which has the effect of paralyzing the state government.

All of which is to say that Democracy is imperfect. So, too are our leaders and so too is our civil society. The only real disappointment, at least to me, are those folks who seek to actively undermine it.