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Our One-Party Democracy     

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: September 8, 2009

Watching both the health care and climate/energy debates in Congress, it is hard not to draw the following conclusion: There is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy, which is what we have in America today.
{A ridiculous assertion but it gets better}
One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down.

Our one-party democracy is worse. The fact is, on both the energy/climate legislation and health care legislation, only the Democrats are really playing. With a few notable exceptions, the Republican Party is standing, arms folded and saying “no.” Many of them just want President Obama to fail. Such a waste. Mr. Obama is not a socialist; he’s a centrist. But if he’s forced to depend entirely on his own party to pass legislation, he will be whipsawed by its different factions.

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Let me just say for the record that this is a monstrous column. When faced with American public defection from elite-preferred outcomes on certain policy issues that involve many difficult tradeoffs of the kind that democracies, with much jostling and argument, are supposed to work out among many different groups, Friedman extols the example of ... China's political system, because it's both enlightened and autocratic? Who among us knew?

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JOHN adds: Friedman's column is indeed monstrous. We on the right sometimes harbor dark suspicions that liberals, if they had the opportunity, would be glad to dispense with the messy process of democracy. And with us. Friedman goes a long way toward confirming those suspicions.

In addition to being monstrous, the column is dumb. Friedman says we have "one-party democracy" in America. What is that supposed to mean? His explanation makes no sense: "The fact is, on both the energy/climate legislation and health care legislation, only the Democrats are really playing." No, what is happening is that Republicans and Democrats disagree. Republicans are opposing the Democrats' health care and carbon tax legislation because they believe--correctly--that both represent terrible public policy. When Republicans proposed Social Security reform and Democrats opposed it, were we a "one-party democracy" because "only the Republicans were playing"? I don't remember Friedman yearning for fascist solutions during the Bush administration.

Actually, as should be obvious, the fact that the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats may need some Republican support to enact sweeping changes in the health care system or a destructive cap-and-tax system is proof that we are a two-party democracy.

If Tom Friedman isn't the most overrated man in America, he's a strong contender.

PAUL adds: That's for sure. And Friedman has now become the leading member of a small but not insignificant band of leftists driven more hysterical by having its party in power, but unable fully to control policy, than by being out of power.

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reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today

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Seuss said:

> The people of china are reasonably enlightened

I guess that explains why they have free access to the internet.  Oh wait.  Lets not forget Tiananmen Square where protesters were allowed the freedom to express their viewpoint.  Oh wait.  Oh, and lets not forget about freedom of religion such as Falun Gong and Xiantianism.  Oh wait.  China, truly an enlightened people where freedom of information is suppressed, freedom of expression is suppressed, freedom of religion is suppressed, etc.

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Seuss said:

> Well, I don't know if we are a one party system as he says

I call it a "one coin party".  They are simply opposites sides of the same coin.  The differences in the parties is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to keep people occupied and voting along party lines rather than looking for an alternative "third" party to represent them.

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