A report on democracy in America

KENNETT, Mo.Cousin Democritus

887 Apollo Drive

Athens, Greece

Dear Cousin:

Welcome from America, whose citizens proudly declare is the world's greatest democracy, a melding of mankind's most important religions, cultures and systems of self-government. In my relatively brief stay in this huge, diverse nation, I have been amused at the suggestion of so many Americans that it was they who originated the concept of a peoples' democracy and the originators of a system that purports to deliver life's rewards in a fair, equitable manner.

My trip from Athens to New York was uneventful except for repeated demands from the authorities that I show them my passport and answer numerous questions concerning my business in the United States. Once safely landed at LaGuardia Airport, armed troops entered our plane and surrounded me as they examined my passport and flight plans. They seemed somewhat suspicious of my explanation that I was visiting America simply to observe how federal elections are conducted. An officer of the inspection crew suggested that I was in America to spy on the electoral process in an attempt to emulate it in Greece. When I informed him that Aristotle first suggested the intrinsic worth of the individual five centuries before the birth of Christ, he became indignant and then insulting, claiming I had no right to demean his president, George The Younger Bush, in such a manner. I was cleared for entry into America 72 hours later and have since spent my time observing the American campaigns and elections which finally ended Nov. 5.

In planning my trip to observe the fall campaign season, I wisely allowed twice the amount of time one would normally set aside for these events. Unlike the recommendations of our wise Lyceum forefathers, the Americans permit year-round campaigns and have never made revisions such as were instituted by the British, French and other civilized nations to allow for brief but intense periods in which the voting public was spared the monotonous repetition of candidates' claimed governing skills. When I would attempt to explain the logic behind the Socratic argument that longer campaigns only serve to make candidates more and more dependent on contributions from selfish special interests, my listeners would accuse me of trying to introduce "dangerous, foreign ideas" in their beloved campaigns.

Many of these detractors, after listening carefully to my arguments, would agree with me, while insisting that shortening pejorative partisan periods were contrary to the true ideals of Athenian democracy. No one questioned was ever able to answer how the world's oldest democracy was able to conduct a national campaign and election in less than one-tenth the time required in one of the world's youngest.

Another quite remarkable adjunct of American campaigns is the willingness of many candidates to disparage their opponents, a tactic that best serves to demean the entire process as well as all of its participants. Even the darkest days of ancient Attica, before the wisdom of our great philosophers could be perceived, this sort of evil slander was outlawed, with candidates prohibited from making any reference to their opponents. As Plato so wisely noted early in his career, a candidate's stature does not grow from manure but from wise and considered views on how a purported public servant will endeavor to carry out his obligations to the electorate.

During the campaign the United States has just endured (and, frankly, I don't understand their willingness to undergo such pain) candidates of all parties and most persuasions engaged in humiliating exercises of slander and libel, indifferent to any code of ethics or rules of conduct. I could only conclude from the volume of this dribble that Americans' political parties had sunk to such moral depths as to be unfit for any allegiance from any capable of sound judgment and religious convictions. Candidates who presumably believed strongly in the U.S. electoral system quite obviously believed its enhancement was less important than the success of their own political careers. No one I was able to question seemed able to explain how the schizophrenic behavior of elected officials during campaigns could be transformed into respect for these officials after the voting was completed. How does any leader command respect and admiration of citizens whose candidates he disrespected a few days or weeks earlier? Such demagoguery was banned in the earliest days of the Lyceum by Socrates and Aristotle and later by Demetrius during the war with Rome.

Considerable research of claims and statements made by candidates in this recent campaign point to one conclusion: America's voters have not only lost control of their own campaigns, they have given virtually no thought on how to reform them by instituting common sense rules. The longevity of these periods leads to disrespect for the entire system, as evidenced by the dangerous lack of voter participation; the inability to curb inaccurate and distorted information has brought about a general loss of voter respect for both the office and the officeholder and, thusly, government in general.

I wish not to be considered a follower of Eratosthenes, for he went too far in advocating reform, but Americans would be wise to consider his words some two hundreds years after Christ: "The people's faith in their form of government is determined by their faith in how it is formed."

I'll see you soon in Athens, Cousin. I am anxious to present you with a gift of stock I was fortunately able to purchased from a former U.S. congressman. He says the stock will make any foreigner a multimillionaire. The stock is known here in America as Enron.

Your loving cousin.

Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News & Editorial Service.