The Monkeys are Running the Circus

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Winston Churchill once said, "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter," and Herman Melville added, "Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage."

Watching the protests in Wisconsin this past week I couldn't help but wonder.

A mob strutting through the streets of Madison claiming to be the voice of the people while ironically ignoring the majority of the people who just voted…

Pundits and politicians claiming to hate hatred while screaming hatefully at those they hate…

I have to admit it (and I bet you do too), many a time I have found myself scratching my head saying, "Did I miss something here?!"

A majority of the people in California vote for Proposition 8 yet a handful of judges contradict those people while claiming to speak for the majority that they just overruled.

Democratic legislators in Wisconsin who were democratically elected refuse to participate in the democratic legislative process that they proudly call a democracy.

Progressives, the self-proclaimed paragons of tolerance and open-mindedness, condemn the "vitriol" of those they call intolerant and then turn around and spew vitriolic venom at those they can't tolerate.

Unions, while claiming to be the voice of the people, denying those same people a voice in opposing forced confiscation otherwise known as union dues.

The list goes on and on. If the duplicity weren't so tragic, it would truly be comic. Indeed the monkeys are running the circus.

Maybe this is why H. L. Mencken said, "Democracy [is] the worship of jackals by jackasses."

Maybe this is why Jefferson told us that "the republican"—rather than the democratic form—"is the only form of government which is not eternally at…war with the rights of mankind."