For those who have been buying into the spin being put forth by the media about how the jockeying and pontificating that’s been taking place for days now in the process of choosing a new speaker of the U.S. House is demonstrable proof of the confusion, disarray and lack of leadership within the Republican Party: Step back a bit and consider what true democracy in action actually looks like.

The hammering out of different interests, priorities and points of view, even among those who share in a basic political philosophy, can be, and in fact often is, a messy and chaotic process; “sausage making” is the metaphor often used. That is what actual democracy looks and feels like.

On the other hand, lockstep following of the “party line,” with little or no tolerance for dissent or variation, is what authoritarian collectivism looks and feels like. It’s like Xi Jinping with the Chinese Communist Party: the exact opposite of democracy.

Jim Wolery

West Loch

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