See, writers can talk

Here's some thoughts Hendrik Hertzberg shared at his talk yesterday. He’s the New Yorker journalist that I mentioned earlier in the week.

• Hertzberg sees the US form of democracy (the oldest surviving democracy on the planet) as an innovative, cutting-edge design for 1789, but something that needs to evolve for the 21st century. The Constitution itself, in his opinion, lives and breathes and shouldn’t be treated as sacred scripture. Those who drafted the original would be aghast to see it treated as such. He believes a more ideal political construction would incorporate more elements of a parliamentary system. He seems to think that an executive branch dependent upon the legislative branch makes more sense than two completely independent, self-serving branches. The checks and balances would come from the voters at election time, rather than from the other branches of government. Right now, the typical voter doesn’t believe he/she holds any power to determine the political course of the country. Even if they elect a candidate, it’s not guaranteed that the candidate’s proposed programs will come to fruition (think Universal Healthcare, Clinton administration). Instead, we should vote for a candidate and give them much freer reign to implement their programs. A referendum will come 4 years later when the populace decides if they like it or not.
• Using the essence of his own language, if DC was to turn into the modern Pompeii, those excavating the entombed remains of our city would characterize this society as Ancestor Worshippers. Think bearded dudes on huge chairs and 19-foot statues surrounded by rotundas.
• Elections (which he thinks we have way too many of, and nobody can keep up with them all) should follow a new model. There can be multiple candidates from multiple parties. The bottom one or two after the first vote get knocked off. Then we vote again. Knock off a couple more. Eventually we will have an election where one candidate gets a clear majority. Obviously there’s logistics that need to be addressed, most of which he didn’t have time to explore. According to Hertzberg, this model would allow multiple parties to participate, yet those with similar philosophies won’t destroy each other(think Bush/Gore/Nader ’00). Also, the person who does finally get elected will have a better idea from where his/her support comes from and might govern accordingly (if a libertarian candidate gets ousted in the second to last vote, it will be obvious in the next round where most of those libertarians votes go. Their votes might be enough to bring a certain candidate’s total over 50%. That candidate will have to keep in mind that without the libertarian block, he/she wouldn’t be in office).
• He has serious doubts about whether Hilary can overcome the electorate’s need for a candidate with a ‘macho’ image (gotta put a smack down on that terrorism, yo!) in ’05. He also thinks the irony of her standing as a feminist icon, yet having relied so heavily on the position of her husband to attain public prominence might prove troublesome.
• He doesn’t know much about CAFTA, but he supports globalization and free-trade
• His forty year career studying and working in politics has convinced him that most politicians have good intentions. The problem lies more with the system and less with the people.
• He thinks Jimmy Carter’s political benevolence surpassed that of other politicians by 10%, but his political adeptness lagged by 10%. He has Pres. Carter’s email address. He doesn’t use it very often. When he does, Carter responds within minutes.

So that’s a whole bunch of regurgitation and not much analysis. I’d be happy to share my opinions on his opinions anytime, but I gotta catch a really cheap bus to New York.

Also, I saw the Thievery Corporation last night. Quickly: their most recent album includes guest vocals on a number of the tracks, many of whom are too busyto tour with TC. Beyond that loss, the lead vocalist for their best-known hit "Lebanese Blonde" committed suicide. Finally, their music is diffucult in many ways to translate to a live-show, stage forum. Even dealing with all these impediments, I think they managed to pull off an overall spectacular show. But now i really have to go, so I’m going to trust that my buddy Jake and I had similar thoughts and let his review in DCist do the job.