You hear a lot of talk among progressives about "deliberative" and "participatory" democracy. The idea is that ordinary people should come together to air their differences and deliberate about common ends. Nobody is beholden to anybody else; everybody is entitled to speak; everybody's interests are to be respected and, if possible, accommodated.
It's a lie. Progressives don't want to hear from ordinary people. They want to govern ordinary people. They want to do what they think is best for ordinary people, even if the people in question don't want it (or aren't sure they want it). Call it elitism; call it paternalism; call it the vanguard of the proletariat; it comes to the same thing, and it stinks.
What we have seen at various town-hall meetings this summer is participatory democracy. Ordinary people show up to discuss health care. Some of them get boisterous, but that's to be expected in any crowd. It happens when progressives gather and it happens when conservatives gather. Most people at the town-hall meetings are respectful and civil. They care about themselves, their families, their communities, and their country. They want to do their civic duty by participating. They are good citizens.
What has happened? Progressives are offended that hoi polloi don't accept what their betters have proposed for them. How dare these people disagree with us! Don't they know that we know their interests better than they do? Don't they know that we're trying to help them? Don't they know that we're more intelligent than they are, that we have better educations than they do, that we're more knowledgeable than they are, that we've devoted ourselves to improving the material condition of the people?
Many parents say that children should be seen and not heard. Progressives believe that ordinary people should be seen and not heard. The job of a parent is to protect and promote the interests of his or her children, for they are not yet autonomous. The job of a progressive (as the progressive sees it) is to protect and promote the interests of ordinary people, for they are not truly autonomous. How condescending is that?
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 