“We the People”

It was Peter Finch in “Network” who told his viewers to stick their heads out their windows and yell, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” The response was astonishing – unless you live in Turkey, France or Israel.

It was Peter Finch in “Network” who told his viewers to stick their heads out their windows and yell, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” The response was astonishing – unless you live in Turkey, France or Israel.

In Turkey, the AKP government won an election that saw all the traditional secular parties ousted from parliament (they fragmented and none reached the 10 percent threshold required for seating). AKP rules alone; the opposition is ineffectual and 47 percent of the electorate is unrepresented. Last month, AKP nominated the foreign minister to be the new President of the Republic, a post filled by election in the parliament, so his nomination was seen as tantamount to his election. The presidency is not tremendously powerful, but neither is it a sinecure. Most important, the president appoints judges and rectors of state universities. Since both are traditionally secular, an AKP president can have an impact on their future disposition and thus an impact on the nature of Turkish society.

Nearly a million Turks from the 47 percent took to the streets – and some are still there; a final rally is scheduled for Izmir on Sunday. They protested the nomination (since withdrawn) of course, but they also find that representation is denied them in the halls of government because of failures in the secular political leadership. The rolling protests are as much a rebuke of those parties as they are a denunciation of the AKP.

In France, an astonishing 85 percent of the voters went to the polls. After years of increasing violence – particularly, but not only against Jews – economic turmoil and political malaise, French voters demanded to be heard, demanded to be led. President Sarkozy responded, “I am going to give the place of honor back to the nation and national identity. I am going to give pride in France back to the French people.”

In Israel, 150,000 or more people rallied in Tel Aviv after the Winograd Commission report issued a devastating description of the Israeli government’s lack of leadership. They demonstrated on behalf of NO candidate, NO political party and NO program. People of the political left, right and center (notably excluding party leaders) demanded leadership, soul searching, responsiveness and responsibility from their government.

We in the U.S. are accustomed to large demonstrations against something concrete – the war, the president, segregation. We are also accustomed to nasty governments permitting frenzied demonstrations against our friends and ourselves (or Danish cartoonists), often to let off steam that would otherwise be directed against them. But we rarely see democratic countries in which “the people” simply demand better from their government and their politicians. It is a very good thing.

We hope the Turkish-French-Israeli wave is successful in those countries. Democracy not only requires that people vote, but that they care. A bit of that would go a long way in our own country as we enter the political silly season (which seems permanent now). “We the People” have an obligation to demand that our politicians do better, be better and lead better as they steer the ship of state, or hope to.