Democracy

The interesting thing for me is that I think the government actually functions more effectively when there is little accountablility, though that violates the basic notions of individual liberty. The most effective policy making body that we have (the judiciary) is almost entirely unaccountable to anyone. In the last 8 years, it has seemed as though the executive branch is the second most effective legislative body in the land, and I think that branch currently believes it is accountable only to a 'higher' authority. Congress is highly accountable and completely ineffective and inefficient. Mostly I would say that stems from a general desire by individuals to protect other individuals. Almost no one believes they need the goverment to tell them what to do. Almost everyone believes that everyone else needs the governement to help them, guide them, and stop them from doing things that they simply are not intelligent to understand themselves (unlike Frankie, I think there is a small modicum of merit to this latter argument, specifically in areas related to prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs). The central problem then to a Democracy is a basic assumption that everyone else in the democracy is an idiot, and it is safer generally to pass all the powers on to the governement, where they are safely out of the hands of the people. I think it is necessary that the government maintains a small degree protection in certain areas, but that is practicality winning out over ideology.