When the protesters on Mauna Kea and other places in Hawaii say that the government “is not listening,” and that “we’re not being heard,” what they really mean is that “we’re not getting what we want” — as if their position is paramount and their ideas and opinions should take precedence over everything else.

But the role and responsibility of the decision-makers in government is to listen to all input from everyone and then make the best decision possible, which almost always involves compromise. No one party or group gets everything it wants. Many are discouraged. This is the way a democratic society works.

The protesters have resorted to mob rule as a means of getting what they want, dismissing the needs and desires of others and using obstructionist tactics. It is a danger to the very essence of democracy.

Roger Garrett

Kapahulu

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