To ConCon or not to ConCon: Is Democracy the best fit for Hawaii?

[Daniel de Gracia II]

When people ask me why I think we should have a ConCon, I point them to the words of the late Prime Minister Golda Meir regarding the signing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence: "After I signed, I cried. When I studied American history as a schoolgirl and I read about those who signed the Declaration of Independence, I couldn't imagine these were real people doing something real. And there I was sitting down and signing a declaration of establishment."

I personally think that the opportunity to participate in a ConCon is something so phenomenal that it is almost like having an American Revolution all over again. Like Golda Meir, when I studied history as a child, I wanted to be right there when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, or when the Constitution was signed. The opportunity to re-affirm and rededicate our social covenant by means of a Hawaii ConCon seems to me to be the ultimate expression of our love for democracy and freedom.

In 1992 Dr. Francis Fukuyama published his now-famous book, "The End Of History And The Last Man" (Free Press, ISBN 0-02-910975-2) which suggested that we had arrived at "the end of history" in which the western brand of democracy was the end point of mankind's evolution and the final form of human government. Today, 120 of the of the world's 192 states are democratic nations. Most people around the world simply believe that democracy is the best form of government.

But here in Hawaii, I wonder if perhaps resistance to a ConCon may not really be an issue of people not seeing a need to amend the existing state constitution or an issue of apathy, but perhaps a doubt towards democracy being an effective system of government? We cannot overlook the fact that there are some people who, though they are a minority, do not agree with the present U.S./State of Hawaii regime and seek to return to the days of monarchy. Others still prefer a highly centralized form of government in which people's rights are viewed more as "interests" and government's role is perceived as being that of tutor, definer, and crafter of public interest versus servant of public will. Even though (presumably) Gov. Wahiee was speaking in jest when he said in a 13 July Star Bulletin article that he wanted more bolsheviks in the Democratic Party, it does beg the question that perhaps some don't think that our present system of human government is the best for Hawaii.

Is it possible that here in Hawaii, Dr. Francis Fukuyama's theory about democracy being the ultimate form of government is false?

What do you think?

[Ken Conklin]

I am a neo-Platonic mystic. Among other things, that means I believe that Philosopher-Kings (and Queens!) should rule. And of course, I am one of those most qualified to be Philosopher-King. However, in the absence of a massive outpouring of demands to install me as ruler (such as 100,000 people assembling at 'Iolani Palace shouting my name), I acknowledge that for the time being democracy is the best form of government currently available.

That's why I support having a con-con, and I support revising our Constitution to include initiative, referendum, and recall. The refusal of the Legislature to place on the ballot a referendum on the Akaka bill, and the efforts of the Honolulu mayor to derail a ballot question on the choo-choo train, demonstrate that our elected officials simply will not allow the people to vote on the most wide-ranging and fundamental issues facing us today. And so I say: "Power to the people!" Of course there are fundamental rights we must never allow a mob to trample, and that's why we have such rights enshrined in a Constitution. But we clearly need a much larger role for democracy in Hawaii. The ancient days of ali'i making the decisions for the maka'ainana are long gone. The plantation days of managers and lunas making decisions for the lifestyle, housing, healthcare, and feeding of the laborers are pau. We need a new people's revolution to take over the government from our arrogant self-serving politicians.

[Kaunaloa]

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the rest" -- Winston Spencer Churchill
The Lion has it per usual Daniel -- warts and all this far outstrips any alternative ...

"What have you made here?"
"A republic, ma'am, if you can keep it" -- attributed to Benjamin Franklin, responding to the question posed by a Phildelphia lady outside the hall at the constituional convention
Ben's point being that a republic only properly functions when the citizenry participates ...

[Emil Svrcina]

I also believe, that at this point, democracy in USA is the best form of government we can tolerate, because it gives us the right to vote for our representatives and many freedoms necessary for creative productive life. Hawaiian form of democracy is unfortunately perverted by the fact, that 64% of registered voters exercise their freedom not to vote. Therefore theoretically half of the rest plus one (36%/2 +1) - 18% plus one registered voter makes necessarily majority to put few to rule and because it is legal they rule "democratically", even if it is a joke. To me this has dangerously similar effect like in communism. In communism close to 100% people were directly or indirectly forced to vote for the few in power. The similarity with Hawaii is in the fact, that the ruling party decisions are more and more decisions by minority for the rest. Ruling few are not seeking well for all, but as arrogant self-serving politicians, more for themselves. That is (may be they have conscience too after all) making them however more afraid of people and therefore distant from the will of the people, which then must be obstructed and not allowed to be heard. Otherwise their status-quo would cease. I lived in "bolshevik" system first 26 years of my life and that system is based on sacrificing creativity and freedoms of individual man in the name of the communist ideology. Those in power obviously didn't live by those rules they were more or less secretly arrogant self-serving capitalists.
Like Ken is looking for philosopher-king, me too. Fascism, communism, and capitalism will have to merge and I would call him (or her) benevolent dictator will emerge. He must be spiritual leader with good in mind for all to inspire all, sustainability over immediate bottom line must be the general principle-LIFE, people must feel free to create, research, invent – LIBERT, so the capitalistic nature can flourish with projects, which will be designed to benefit all (therefore they won't generate opposition), and prosperous regime of this kind will then naturally produce enough to create safety net for all, who won't make it big like people contributing with major scientific breakthroughs. Sounds like second coming of Christ? Let prepare his arrival. We have to wake up people from their apathy, which makes them useful idiots – oxymoron in the greatest country on the planet.
I think we definitely have to ConCon (recall, referendum, initiative, OHA doesn’t sound right to me in USA) and more – we have to participate. I’m trying to make a difference myself: emil4citycouncil.com

[Daniel de Gracia II]

Thanks Ken as always. I really wonder though what the future of democracy is in Hawaii when there are people who feel that the function of government is to redefine and shape our needs and wants. I don't think that our Founding Fathers intended government to micromanage citizen behavior through the use of taxation and punitive laws - i.e. social engineering - but what can be done when you have leaders in office that build careers off of social engineering legislation, special interest groups that profit off them, and a public that either doesn't care or actually agrees that they need to be micromanaged? As I've said jokingly before on Hawaii Reporter, "It's a sad state of affairs to say that if you didn't make something illegal this year or increase taxes, you're either a Republican or an ineffective Democrat." My take on this is that democracy only works if people want democracy. If people are happy with living in a Harrison Bergeron-type dystopia, then what can we do about that? How can our republic possibly survive when we are so schizophrenic in our behavior?

Despite the fact that our islands are just a hop skip and a jump away from each other, last year we had people protesting the Superferry arriving in outer island ports by throwing themselves in front of the ship hailing claim to the civil disobedience precedent of the Boston Tea Party because they believed it would run over whales, violate Hawaiian sovereignty, spread virulent diseases and sneak nuclear weapons in, but at the same time we got people right here in Honolulu demanding that the rail go forward without a public vote and intimidating others to be silent because moving forward is more important than democracy.

We got people who say that you must have Hawaiian blood to be Hawaiian and receive Hawaiian benefits, but then in the same breath, they say that Obama is Hawaiian and a native son because he spent his formative years here and was born here, because now conveniently we have the chance to say we have a Hawaiian candidate running for office.

Come on, people, what is it going to be? Are we only going to behave when the mood suits us? Which is it, up or down, right or left, backward or forward? How can democracy work like this?

[Kaunaloa]

Daniel, the instances you cite show that the "megaphone" can be a powerful tool. there are 55k folks on Kaua'i. a tiny fraction of 1% of them paddled out to the harbor, but due to some VERY poor decisions by the coast guard [and to some extent the county govt.], instead of being uncerimoniously yanked out of the water and tossed in the slam, they were ALLOWED to prevent the ferry from reaching the dock. it is up to the citizens of that county this fall to decide if they will continue to tolerate that sort of inaction from their elected officials.

[Daniel de Gracia II]

Yeah, too true, too true. You remember the Surfer's Path article a few months ago that was asking for people to be ready to die over that?

Kaunaloa said:

Daniel, the instances you cite show that the "megaphone" can be a powerful tool. there are 55k folks on Kaua'i. a tiny fraction of 1% of them paddled out to the harbor, but due to some VERY poor decisions by the coast guard [and to some extent the county govt.], instead of being uncerimoniously yanked out of the water and tossed in the slam, they were ALLOWED to prevent the ferry from reaching the dock. it is up to the citizens of that county this fall to decide if they will continue to tolerate that sort of inaction from their elected officials.

[Kaunaloa]

not familiar with that article ...

just heard secondhand that the coasties were P.O.'d to no end at being prevented from enforcing any of a number of very clear statutes ...

[Daniel de Gracia II]

I never did understand why that whole crisis was allowed to develop, especially the part about people disembarking the Superferry and having rocks thrown at them with the police just standing there, according to Diane Pana's account. Sort of reminds me of the scene in the movie Mississippi Burning where the sherriff's department refused to stop or interfere in one of the hamlets being burned down in a riot, instead just erecting a barricade and watching while the whole thing went down.

[Kaunaloa]

actions of the police tned to fall under the executive branch, hence the county executives need to be called to account for their failure to act in such situations ...

/jmo as always ...