Blurts & Spasms

From Quora discussion: "If we can all agree that I know what to do with my own money (needs), then why does the Democratic Party think this principle changes on a national scale?"

I'm not sure why you are singling out Dems, since Congressional deficit spending has been leapfrogging over itself for decades, regardless of which party has had the majority (let's hear it for "pork barrel!"). But to the heart of your question, I would simply ask:

- When was the last time you had a group of 100 or more U.S. veterans over to your house for dinner...and then provided them medical care...at no charge?
- Are you an expert in developing immunizations for lethal viruses, and do you have a lab in your basement to work on those? How's that going?
- Can you deliver some legal documents for me, from a California address to a Florida address, in less than four days, for 49 cents?
- Can you explain, in detailed economic terms, how an unregulated banking system could avoid boom/bust cycles?
- When was the last time you negotiated an international trade deal (G8 or otherwise)?
- Do you know how to pilot an aircraft carrier? Can you do that single-handedly?
- Do you own a Roadtec RX500 Cold Planer Milling Machine, and if so would you mind if I borrow it to resurface my street?
- And of course: what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow...?

I actually sympathize with the sentiment behind your question: I feel there should be a lot more direct democracy in the U.S., a lot more citizens councils (selected by civic lottery) making decisions in specialized areas of government, and lot fewer self-selected megalomaniacs in any positions of power who don't really represent the electorate's interests. But it is specifically the scope, complexity and specialized knowledge of collective decision-making that has necessitated representative democracy in the U.S. since its inception. In fact we would do better to call it "technocracy" as that scope, specialization and complexity continues to increase exponentially. But this trend also requires that we have smarter, more educated, and wiser "technocrats" to help us make good collective decisions. A salient example of this is research into basic science. When Congress voted down funding for a new particle accelerator back in 1993 (see Superconducting Super Collider), they effectively eliminated U.S. research from this essential area of physics. Now American physicists court the folks at CERN. So much for American exceptionalism. But the point is that if we had a panel of preeminent U.S. scientists who were selected by lottery to both inform the public and advise Congress on such decisions, and whose recommendations had more political weight than the voices of the largest donors to election campaigns, then I suspect the outcome would have been quite different.