Any nation that justly prides itself on having free speech is quick to learn that guaranteeing free speech also entails guaranteeing a considerable amount of uninformed, ignorant speech. Any election in any country will ensure that such speech is never in short supply.
With the ideas of such speech being constantly sold to and bought by voters, the wonder is perhaps that the system even works at all. Sometimes, of course, it doesn’t. Even Hitler got elected.
In days gone by, when our country was still very young, people who were well-versed in politics were sure that this system of ours would never work. It had never even been tried before. They were wrong. So far, for all its faults, it has managed to work well, at least for us, and at least until now.
Whether or not it will continue to work, is open to question.
REGUT
(Robert E. Regut is a graduate of West Point and a teacher with 20-plus years of experience in the teaching of foreign languages, specializing in the teaching of spoken German. He can be reached at P.O. Box 101, Nobleboro, ME, or at robertregut@gmail.com.)
