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The Tyranny of the Minorities

The Tyranny of the Minorities

We can’t possibly have an education crisis in this country. Everyone’s so smart. Young and old, rich and poor, liberal and conservative, you name it – everyone thinks they know what’s wrong with the country, and how to fix it. And why have a conversation, a dialogue, when you know that you’re right?

We must have been putting civics pills in the drinking water, because everyone thinks they know what this country stands for, how we’ve drifted from our values, and the way to return to our roots. And the more fragmented we become, the more everyone is certain that their view is the correct one, that their group is the right one, and that everyone else is wrong.

There’s only one problem: everyone can’t be right. So since we can’t all prevail, the only achievable goal is to prevent others from succeeding. Instead of building a consensus and a country, we are now fragmenting into smaller and smaller minorities, each with the power to block and to disrupt. Everyone has the power to impose their will by stopping and preventing others from achieving their goals.

Labels have replaced ideas, and shouting has replaced thinking. Minorities have the power to prevent, and we have become a nation of noise.

In the past, we feared the tyranny of a small minority who could impose their will on a much larger majority. Now, a large number of minorities can paralyze the majority. This is tyranny upside down.

This is tyranny from within. This is tyranny from ourselves in the name of our own values. This is the tyranny of the minorities.

Welcome to our future.

2 Comments
Feb 23, 2012
By artbushkin Politics Tags: , , ,
  • http://www.facebook.com/pjesella Pjesella

    Mr. Bushkin, & staff, I have just discovered your line
    of thought and taking the liberty to share with you some of my comments from
    last week. (Sent as e-mail to your Facebook site)

    They seem to match your thinking,
    and in a few paragraphs represent 30* years of my hobby.  I hope you and your staff can consider and
    reply to the feasibility of a team creating my current vision of
    accountability, debate, constructive thinking and documented response.  Thank You for your time and attention to my
    journey through life.  PJ

    Finance and the Good Society

    C/O of the Commonwealth Club of California

    “Robert Shiller, Columnist for The New York Times,

    Arthur M. Okun  Professor of
    Economics at Yale University;

    Author, Finance and the Good Society

    Cory Johnson, Editor-at-Large, Bloomberg Television – Moderator

    New York Times best-selling economist Shiller is no apologist for the
    sins of finance. He is possibly the only person to have predicted both the
    stock market bubble of 2000 and the real estate bubble  that led up to the subprime mortgage
    meltdown. In his important and timely book, Finance and the Good Society, Shiller
    argues that, rather than condemning finance, we need to reclaim it for the
    common good. “

    My question, Peter Jesella, below go back 30+ years, but are related to
    the challenges this nation faces today, this election year, and the next,
    future generations of the good old U.S.A..

    The Wall Street Editorial comments, 04/04/2012,  titled “Paul Ryan’s Hunger Games”  is a very good articulation of a vision
    outlined by Congressman Ryan’s Federal Budget proposal and endorsed by
    Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.  It
    highlights the remarks President Obama gave in his speech to the Associated
    Press, a detail response.

    It is interesting that the W.S.J. would include “The Hunger Games”
    movie as a reference to a possible future outcome from either political parties
    priorities & solutions.

    As a Vietnam-era medical veteran, serving 4 years in the U.S. Air Force
    rather than being drafted in the Army; for various reasons I have advocated
    since 1979 to US leaders the national imperative of HR 1730 from 1979.  This bill would have replaced the Selective
    Service System with a National Youth Service System. 

    For me one critical aspect I call Educational {decision-making}
    Democracy, would have required both males & females register at 17
    birthday, encourage 1-year consideration, debate over merits of contracted
    military or civil service, and simple reply at 18 of yes, no, maybe towards
    participation. 

    I call this Constructive {sweat-equity} Citizenship. 

    Maybe allowed further consideration for various reasons up to age
    23.   

    My 4 word philosophy:  National
    {economic-individual} Security. 

    This cost-effective but highly politically unpopular solution has
    haunted me as a year-after-year, day-after-day, nation-wide, local community
    based wake-up call for more than 30 years of indifference from nearly all U.S.
    Leaders.  

    **As some of my more recent attached info shows I have asked various
    experts & leaders to help create a Wikipedia/E-bay like Internet site that
    would challenge experts & leaders of various disciplines to a 6 hour review
    of this topic, and provide to this database a few pages of reaction to this
    “What If” model. 

    **If they have no desire to provide volunteer or pro-bono time,
    consideration, comments; then capitalism-would-be-used to test the
    financial–cost provided by public citizens & institutions–towards their
    compensation of 6 hours of review, reflection, posted 2-3 pages of initial
    perspective.

    **This seems to be the only way to make it happen. Can You Help Me? PJ

    This seems possible to design with the right technology team, not sure
    if 90% or 99% of comments would require financial compensation and if 90% would
    be “only no comment” no desire to think this “what if”
    reality into a artificial or reality based possibility.  But it is my belief that it is worth the
    time, small investment I have, to find a few that might help make it
    happen. 

    Again take care, PJ

    I posted this e-mail to Art Bushkin on his Facebook site, hope you can
    share it with your staff and him. 
    Without feedback I rarely know or understand who really seems to care anymore.  PJ

     

    Finance and the Good Society

    C/O of the Commonwealth Club of California

    “Robert Shiller, Columnist for The New York Times,

    Arthur M. Okun  Professor of
    Economics at Yale University;

    Author, Finance and the Good Society

    Cory Johnson, Editor-at-Large, Bloomberg Television – Moderator

    New York Times best-selling economist Shiller is no apologist for the
    sins of finance. He is possibly the only person to have predicted both the
    stock market bubble of 2000 and the real estate bubble  that led up to the subprime mortgage
    meltdown. In his important and timely book, Finance and the Good Society, Shiller
    argues that, rather than condemning finance, we need to reclaim it for the
    common good. “

    My question, Peter Jesella, below go back 30+ years, but are related to
    the challenges this nation faces today, this election year, and the next,
    future generations of the good old U.S.A..

    The Wall Street Editorial comments, 04/04/2012,  titled “Paul Ryan’s Hunger Games”  is a very good articulation of a vision
    outlined by Congressman Ryan’s Federal Budget proposal and endorsed by
    Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.  It
    highlights the remarks President Obama gave in his speech to the Associated
    Press, a detail response.

    It is interesting that the W.S.J. would include “The Hunger Games”
    movie as a reference to a possible future outcome from either political parties
    priorities & solutions.

    As a Vietnam-era medical veteran, serving 4 years in the U.S. Air Force
    rather than being drafted in the Army; for various reasons I have advocated
    since 1979 to US leaders the national imperative of HR 1730 from 1979.  This bill would have replaced the Selective
    Service System with a National Youth Service System. 

    For me one critical aspect I call Educational {decision-making}
    Democracy, would have required both males & females register at 17
    birthday, encourage 1-year consideration, debate over merits of contracted
    military or civil service, and simple reply at 18 of yes, no, maybe towards
    participation. 

    I call this Constructive {sweat-equity} Citizenship. 

    Maybe allowed further consideration for various reasons up to age
    23.   

    My 4 word philosophy:  National
    {economic-individual} Security. 

    This cost-effective but highly politically unpopular solution has
    haunted me as a year-after-year, day-after-day, nation-wide, local community
    based wake-up call for more than 30 years of indifference from nearly all U.S.
    Leaders.  

    **As some of my more recent attached info shows I have asked various
    experts & leaders to help create a Wikipedia/E-bay like Internet site that
    would challenge experts & leaders of various disciplines to a 6 hour review
    of this topic, and provide to this database a few pages of reaction to this
    “What If” model. 

    **If they have no desire to provide volunteer or pro-bono time,
    consideration, comments; then capitalism-would-be-used to test the
    financial–cost provided by public citizens & institutions–towards their
    compensation of 6 hours of review, reflection, posted 2-3 pages of initial
    perspective.

    **This seems to be the only way to make it happen. Can You Help Me? PJ

    This seems possible to design with the right technology team, not sure
    if 90% or 99% of comments would require financial compensation and if 90% would
    be “only no comment” no desire to think this “what if”
    reality into a artificial or reality based possibility.  But it is my belief that it is worth the
    time, small investment I have, to find a few that might help make it
    happen. 

    Again take care, PJ

    I posted this e-mail to Art Bushkin on his Facebook site, hope you can
    share it with your staff and him. 
    Without feedback I rarely know or understand who really seems to care anymore.  PJ

     

     

     

     

     

  • http://Brandergy.com/ VincentWright

    Very thoughtful and accurate post, Art.
    By the way: I’ve love to read the comments but, the black and white background makes it inordinately hard for some of us to make out the words without a lot of headache-inducing eyestrain… please reconsider the background for the comments…
    Keep STRONG, Art!
    +Vincent Wright