This from two prominent members of the, ahem, Democratic Party. Let's start with the guy who at least has half of an excuse. Pete Orszag's claim to fame is his recently-lapsed tenure as a powerful unelected federal bureaucrat. More specifically, he was Barack Obama's budget director. (Recall a few of his previous greatest hits HERE and HERE):
To solve the serious problems facing our country, we need to minimize the harm from legislative inertia by relying more on automatic policies and depoliticized commissions for certain policy decisions. In other words, radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic...Our polarized political system has proved incapable of reaching a consensus on this common-sense approach. What we need, then, are ways around our politicians...
And by "our politicians," of course, he means "the people's duly elected representatives." In case you were wondering, he's building the case for de-democratizing America in the context of pining for more deficit spending. For an adept deconstruction of Orszag's comments, check out Reason's Peter Suderman. Moving along to North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue -- one of the very elected representatives Orszag fantasizes about bypassing to implement his agenda by fiat. Turns out, she might be down with that:
Speaking to a Cary rotary club today, N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue suggested suspending Congressional elections for two years so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election. "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that," Perdue said. "You want people who don't worry about the next election." The comment -- which came during a discussion of the economy -- perked more than a few ears. It's unclear whether Perdue, a Democrat, is serious -- but her tone was level and she asked others to support her on the idea.
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