"Democracy is an inherently messy business."
So said that former community organizer from Chicago in an interview aired a few months ago on "60 Minutes" — you know, the one who's living in the White House now.
He should know.
If the statement doesn't ring true, maybe you just haven't been paying very close attention. Already we're squabbling, as we are free to do, over who gets to decide how the electoral districts will look once the DuPage County Board remapping task is finished this summer. Some people on both sides of the aisle think such decisions in a bipartisan political system should be made by both parties. That's not really how it's being done here in DuPage, where the redistricting committee has no Democrats or people of color.
"We can all see that the boom times of the last 30 years are pretty much over," County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said this week, relating how the county has a new landscape with fresh census figures showing the minority head count has climbed 50 percent since the last tally. Cronin, who heads the county Republican organization, is among those who have criticized the remap group's makeup.
It turns out the voice of the people has been making itself heard in quite a few places lately. Tunisia. Cairo. Bahrain. Tripoli. Madison. Messy indeed.
It's been pretty exhilarating to watch this all unfold. Exciting and disconcerting and inspiring and certainly at some moments horrifying.
Democracy really doesn't need defending in a conversational context, but these developments certainly affirm the power of the people. The uprising of the electorate — and even more so the oppressed, in places were elections don't get to happen — validates the premise that we all have the right to be heard, and we care about a thing enough to make some noise about it. Isn't that a big part of what makes this the land of the free?
So say what you will about unions. Their fan base has eroded in recent years, as their numbers in the private sector have steadily dwindled. But there is validity to the fundamental assertion that organized labor has had the effect of giving voice to the little guy, and hence the middle class. Entities that stand up for workers and give them the ability to bargain have helped enable them to buy houses and cars, and send their kids to college. That's the stuff that makes the economy hum and positions us to return to the small circle of intellectual global superpowers.
Removing the workers' napkin and silverware from the bargaining table's settings does more than just tick people off. It can further widen the gap that has grown to a yawning chasm since 1979, when the top 1 percent of U.S. income earners (non-union folks) took in just less than 9 percent of what was made all year. In 2007 that same upper sliver took in 23.5 percent of the year's income. Census data shows that over that same period, incomes of the richest 5 percent of American families grew by 73.5 percent, while the 20 percent of us who earn the least watched our real income shrink more than 4 percent. Everybody in between made do without a raise, or at least one that was much help. Given the slim chance that we'll run into those uber-wealthy sorts at Target or the corner grocery store, this redistribution of wealth probably can't be counted on to kick-start the economic vitality of Main Street or put many folks back to work.
Sometimes when a gross injustice is seen, it can have the effect of holding up a magnifying glass on utter wrong. People notice. They reawaken and they act. Those people facing a steep tea tax those 237-plus years ago did it in Boston Harbor, and the rest is you-know-what. One is wise never to underestimate the might of the wronged.
Chinese leaders aim to avoid the pesky business that rides in on the coattails of Western-style freedom. President Hu Jintao spoke to the Politburo last weekend of the urgent need to "establish a system of public opinion guidance on the Internet," published reports said. It's hard to fathom that happening right out in the open here.
Freedom, like democracy, is messy. And we know it's not free.
I dare say we've not heard the last of the little guy's discontent. Public indignation is heady stuff. The oligarchy has hit on some tough times, and here in the land of the free the cherished First Amendment is alive and well — from rallies demanding smaller government, to demonstrations clamoring for preservation of that place for workers at the bargaining table, to hometown meetings where constituents can speak their piece about fairness in the local expression of one-person, one-vote.
So do show up, and speak up, at one or all four of those local redistricting meetings that will begin next Monday (a full rundown can be found at napersun.com).
Let's let freedom ring, even if it hits the occasional sour note. It's messy.
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