Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Illusion That We Live in A Democracy

I was in my 50s by the time I received my first notice of jury duty. Unlike most people I know, I was excited to experience it. When I arrived at the courthouse, I was seated in a room full of people. We watched a video on how wonderful it is to serve on a jury and waited to see who was called. I was amazed as I sat there, looking around at people of all colors and sizes. We were there as Americans about to perform a sacred civic duty - to sit in judgement of our peers. This felt like a heavy responsibility all of a sudden. My vote could send someone to jail, disrupt a family, break the heart of a mother, bring revenge to a father. I was experiencing the sensation of performing my civic duty and I was proud and honored to be a part of the process. I swallowed back a big lump in my throat. I almost broke out into song...."God Bless America...". Don't worry, I didn't. They also didn't select me as a juror.

While I have lived a life full of experiences that most have not gone through, I still retain a level of naivete. I still expect honesty and integrity in people. So when I decided to attend a Senate Committee hearing on an environmental bill, I was quite excited to once again see democracy in action. I took my seat and eagerly anticipated respectful dialogue and debate. I expected the Committee to be sincere in their solicitation of public comment. Did my bubble burst.  The contents of the bill in question were never discussed. Ever. The Senator who introduce it employed a tactic of diversion, bringing up examples of the failings of the Michigan DNR and telling outright lies. I knew they were lies because I am a biologist and work in the programs he was describing. He told lies to his constituents, who believed him and supported his truly harmful and ridiculous bill. He would not discuss the contents of the bill in the hearing. Divert, divert, divert.

I attended the second hearing, hoping what I had observed in the first hearing was a fluke. It was not. This time the entire room was packed with people opposed to his bill. He told the audience he would hear all their testimony, then the Committee would take all the comments and deliberate for a week and then reintroduce the bill with amendments. At the end of the meeting, he promptly called a vote and passed the bill.

This is our Michigan legislature at work.

Today I attended a House of Representatives Natural Resources committee hearing. They were discussing the above mentioned Senator's latest bill, which was created to circumvent the democratic process and eliminate the public's right to vote on game species in Michigan, specifically timed to negate the 250,000 signatures gathered to put the wolf hunt on the ballot.  He gave his bill synopsis to the committee, once again twisting the truth. And then, he tells the Committee that just last night four wolves attacked a family pet in the UP and the viciously killed the dog. He told us he wanted to show us the photos of the dead dog but they were so gruesome he was advised not to.

He diverted in a big way.

The rest of the hearing had nothing to do with his bill and everything to do with irate Representatives wanting the DNR to send armed officers to guard the residents of the UP from the wild wolves that will surely, as this Senator claimed at the end of his presentation, take the children next.

Testimony began. Citizens who spoke in opposition were harassed by several of the Representatives, being demeaned because they did not live in the UP. One Senator would ask each person if they lived in the UP. If they said no, which most did because they called the meeting just the night before, he would say "I have no other questions", as if this grand statement proved something. The Senator had instantly created an atmosphere of antagonism and anger, by aggravating fear in those who already were scared of wolves, and the urgency of the need to protect wolves in those who were there to speak against the bill.

I had spent several hours carefully drafting a statement which I fully planned to read at the hearing. After sitting in the hearing room for over an hour listening to this most uncivilized display by several of our public servants, I decided that if I was asked whether I was from the UP I might answer something like, "I will not dignify that question with a response. I will however answer any questions directly related to this bill or my testimony." Then I would take off my size 11 shoes and throw them directly at the heads of those two Representatives. Not a pretty sight.  So I submitted my comments and went back to my office.

As I walked on the sidewalk around Michigan's Capital, I felt disillusioned. I wondered if all committee hearings are like this, or is it just the environmental bills? What was the point of all the testimony? It was not listened to, in fact the people who were brave enough to speak submitted themselves to disrespect and rudeness by the legislators we the People voted into office. One speaker said taking her right to vote away is not how a democracy is supposed to work. The Representative who was surveying everyone's peninsular affiliation, told her we are not a democracy. We are a republic. Huh.

Frankly, I don't know what the hell we are anymore.

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