Rick Alexander, Boy Wonder

Via LT, I see this DH story regarding Chris Fisher being served a summons as part of Alexander's (or should I say Meadowbrooks'?) latest court shenangigans.

Fisher gets upset, calling on Alexander to resign.

(Side note: I think Alexander picked Fisher for two reasons: One, that Rick is actually afraid of Sprenger; and two, that he thought this would piss Chris off and hamper his ability to function. I hope Fisher doesn't allow the latter to happen.)

Alexander says this in response:

“As long as the community is still supporting my actions, I’m not planning on worrying about Chris’s opinion of me,” he said. “It’s a democracy.”

1. It's a relatively open question how much community support Alexander has. I know he claims a lot, but I suspect he's got a vocal minority and that's it. My experience with politics suggests that Rick's base, outside of his true believers, is broad, shallow and probably somewhat in the dark about what's actually going on (especially if Rick is their source of information).

2. While Alexander might be considered correct in his use of the "democracy" talking point, his comeback is the perfect illustration of a long-standing conservative critique of democracy: What happens when the people want to do something stupid or obviously counter to their own interests?

I happen to think, unlike many conservatives, that the proper answer to this charge is not to move toward an authoritarian or corporate state, but to educate the people so that the people do not desire to jump off cliffs.

I get that modern media makes that hard, I do. But I still think it's a better idea than further concentrating power.

Side Note: I believe this criticism of democracy goes all the way back to the Greeks. The whole "representative democracy" thing helps to alleviate the perceived danger of direct democracy.

What I find funny about Rick's comeback - and perhaps telling - is that while conservatives are generally the only ones to bring this critique - that democracy gives too much power to the people - it's almost always other conservatives, like Rick, who lead the charge off the cliff and provide the basis for the critique in the first place.


Near-immediate update: I missed this in the DH story the first time around:

Alexander disagreed: “If you look at the majority of decisions that are made, they’re made together.” “Just because there’s a few that aren’t doesn’t mean we can’t work together.”

That may be the most politically intelligent thing I've ever heard Rick say. He's been watching his FOX News.

Either that or reading 1984, because coming from him, that's quite the Doublespeak (and by Doublespeak, I mean bullshit, of course - Rick has quite easily been the single biggest obstacle to board unity or comity, far bigger than Sprenger or Robinson).