Nolan Finley: Democrats Threaten Democracy

From Nolan Finley and the Detroit News: American-style democracy holds together because no matter how nasty the political game gets, the players honor a few inviolable rules. We obey the laws, even the ones we disagree with. We respect the ballot box. And after even the most bitterly contested election, the loser accepts the results, works within the system and awaits another chance to prevail with voters.
These guidelines kept the nation from shearing apart in 2000, when supporters of Al Gore (wrongly) believed the presidential election was stolen by George W. Bush. A tense period of uncertainty ended when Gore, in perhaps his finest moment, conceded and urged his backers to work to heal the country.
But what's happening in Wisconsin and Indiana breaks that tradition and puts a crack in our democratic foundation.
Democrats in those states, as in most others, were shellacked in legislative races last fall, giving
Republicans majority control of their legislatures.
Republicans interpreted their overwhelming victories as a mandate to change the course of the states. Specifically, they set about undoing decades of laws put in place by Democrats to favor labor unions over taxpayers.
Instead of staying on the field to defend their positions, Democratic lawmakers in both states fled to neighboring Illinois, where they hope to win with their absence what they couldn't at the ballot box — namely, the right to control policymaking.
Without the Democrats, the legislatures don't have the required quorums to pass budget measures, including cutting pay and benefits for public workers.
The lawmakers in exile call this a defense of democracy. In truth, it's a step toward anarchy. If it catches on as a practice, it will officially end government by, of and for the people.
It's part of a disturbing trend by Democrats to embrace a by-any-means-necessary approach to governing. We saw it during passage of Obamacare, when the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate blew up the rules to block a filibuster. In Massachusetts, Democrats used after-the-fact law changes in a failed attempt to keep a Republican from succeeding Ted Kennedy....
The strategy exposes the arrogant liberal conviction that they are justified in imposing their will on the people, because only they know what's best for America.
These Democrats in Indiana and Wisconsin merit universal condemnation.
What they are saying is that the people no longer have the right to use the ballot box to decide the direction of their government.
That's a rule change our system can't survive. From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110227/OPINION03/102270310/AWOL-Dems-defy-ballot-box#ixzz1FOzCc3gU
This is a great piece by Mr. Findley. The Democrats have been acting like a bunch of spoiled brats. They can't accept the fact that they lost and election have consequences. But this behavior has gone on for years. Remember Clarence Thomas and the disgraceful behavior of the Democrats and Anita Hill because they did not want a black conservative on the bench?
When a child does not get their way, they stamp their feet, pout, then scream and shout. Most mature kids will then accept what ever that is expected of me. But a spoiled child will yell and scream and then run away and continue to throw their temper tantrum.
What the GOP has to do is how most adults handle spoiled children. Ignore the child's temper tantrum, don't give in and don't negotiate. After awhile, the spoiled child will tire out of their temper tantrum and return home and face the consequences.
Sooner or later, the spoiled child, the Democratic Party, will tire of their antics and return home to face the consequences.