In a confused, hypocritical Jan. 3 letter to the editor, John Branthoover criticized Washington’s Legislature for denying “the will of the people” by not accepting the majority vote as final decision on I-976, the $30 car tab initiative. But, oppositely, he praised the Federal government for not accepting the majority vote, the will of the people, in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton won 65 million votes. Trump won 62 million. 65 is more than 62, thus making Clinton president by will of the people. Except Clinton isn’t President anymore than I-976 is law. Why?
Our high school civics classes explained there is a difference between the will of the people (i.e., direct democracy) and the republic (i.e., representative democracy) the Founding Fathers left us. And I hope all will make the effort to study and understand this difference. Then, perhaps, we will ponder the Founding Fathers’ discussions of who should be allowed to vote: all citizens or only elites as representatives of “what’s best” for everyone?
Spoiler alert, though, as the writer will learn the party he’s been supporting is founded on the belief elites, using suck-ups as bureaucrats, should rule much as a king and his court. His only hope of establishing the will of the people is to join progressives who’ve been struggling for direct democracy ever since America was founded.
Paul Heckel
Snohomish
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