We Need More Democracy, Not Less

Peter Orszag, President Obama's former budget director, has a piece in the New Republic arguing "Why we need less democracy."

As I have argued in this space before, we need more, not less democracy.  Pollster Scott Rasmussen has tracked the differences in public opinion between "mainstream voters" and the "political class."  For example, he finds that "mainstream voters (84%) believe the United States is heading down the wrong track, while 50% of the Political Class believes the same."

Peter Orszag's defining characteristic is his membership in the political class.  So when he argues that America needs less democracy, what he is saying is that the political class don't like what the voters are up to. 

Writes Orszag,

"To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions.  In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic."

In other, other words, the political class is going ahead and doing what it was going to do anyway, whether or not you the voter agree.  And those "automatic policies" mean more debt, more regulation, and higher taxes.  Those "depoliticized commissions"?  Read "lobbyist field day".  The political class will figure it all out, no need to trouble your pretty little head.

More democracy.  More accountability.  More citizen participation.