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Democracy and the elephant
23 December 2005
[indent]Democracy is like the tale of the blind men and the elephant. Every one of them has a different idea of what the elephant is because they're each patting a different part and can't see what the others are patting.
When you elect someone to represent a large part of the population, they become part of the elephant. Let's say the left knee. But when the blind people go back to check on the elephant, they randomly pat around and find an ear. Then they get angry and upset because they elected the person to be the left knee and all they find is the ear!
Unacceptable!
Since democracy is representational, there are always people who didn't vote for someone, and they find themselves unhappy to be represented by that person. That elected person cannot and will not ever be able to satisfy these voters because they voted for a left knee, they demand a left knee and they won't accept an ear in its place. Ears don't represent their constituency, ears can't see to their needs, ears can't protect and serve them. Only, they claim, left knees can do that.
And, of course, these unhappy people stand around telling others that the true elephant only feels like a left knee and anyone who says it should feel like an ear or a tail or even a right knee is not only wrong, but not being truly elephantine.
Only the left knee supporters, they say, are the true representatives of the elephant. Only the people who know the left knee really know the elephant. Only the left knee people are the real elephant people. All the rest are frauds, phonies, interlopers and trespassers. Maybe they're really tiger people in disguise. Or llama people. Or perhaps they're kangaroo people. But they're certainly not elephant people.
So, of course it's a difficult interaction when you're the ear and you're being challenged by left knee supporters.
Special interest groups are like the left knee supporters. Nothing you can do will ever appease them, satisfy them or mollify them. You aren't their definition of an elephant. You will never represent an elephant to them. If you're not a left knee, you can't possibly be an elephant. Only left knees are elephants, end of story.
Nor can you ever convince them that there's a larger beast called an elephant which all the parts serve, knees, ears, tails and even trunks. They will never accept that sometimes other parts will take precedence over the left knee, but in the end they're all parts of the elephant.
Some musings for a Friday from the mind of an elected official (the left ear).
Image from the Gutenberg Project.
[/indent]
When you elect someone to represent a large part of the population, they become part of the elephant. Let's say the left knee. But when the blind people go back to check on the elephant, they randomly pat around and find an ear. Then they get angry and upset because they elected the person to be the left knee and all they find is the ear!
Unacceptable!
Since democracy is representational, there are always people who didn't vote for someone, and they find themselves unhappy to be represented by that person. That elected person cannot and will not ever be able to satisfy these voters because they voted for a left knee, they demand a left knee and they won't accept an ear in its place. Ears don't represent their constituency, ears can't see to their needs, ears can't protect and serve them. Only, they claim, left knees can do that.
And, of course, these unhappy people stand around telling others that the true elephant only feels like a left knee and anyone who says it should feel like an ear or a tail or even a right knee is not only wrong, but not being truly elephantine.
Only the left knee supporters, they say, are the true representatives of the elephant. Only the people who know the left knee really know the elephant. Only the left knee people are the real elephant people. All the rest are frauds, phonies, interlopers and trespassers. Maybe they're really tiger people in disguise. Or llama people. Or perhaps they're kangaroo people. But they're certainly not elephant people.
So, of course it's a difficult interaction when you're the ear and you're being challenged by left knee supporters.
Special interest groups are like the left knee supporters. Nothing you can do will ever appease them, satisfy them or mollify them. You aren't their definition of an elephant. You will never represent an elephant to them. If you're not a left knee, you can't possibly be an elephant. Only left knees are elephants, end of story.
Nor can you ever convince them that there's a larger beast called an elephant which all the parts serve, knees, ears, tails and even trunks. They will never accept that sometimes other parts will take precedence over the left knee, but in the end they're all parts of the elephant.
Some musings for a Friday from the mind of an elected official (the left ear).
Image from the Gutenberg Project.
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