Not only is the idea of getting rid of the Senate in the name of democracy a pale copy of Tony Blair s war on the House of Lords, something only a europhile Democrat could cook up, but the rhetorical swirls and swishes he uses to make the argument make Zorro look tame. The biggest weakness of our body politic is the dearth of articulate foundations for our deepest held convictions. Maggiore relies on religious jargon. The search for equal representation is likened to a quest , it is a concept sacred to Democracy , it is democracy s Holy Grail . Such rhetoric is abusive of the truly sacred things in life, and it puts on blinders to the true nature of the political world.
Democracy is a form of social organization, no more no less.
Granted, Maggiore was probably bandying about words for the sake of fun writing. Yet it is exactly that sort of casual treatment of the subject matter which contributes to a culture of political myopia. Democracy is a serious matter, and it deserves to be defended with better than Maggiore offers. Not only is it the style of argument that detracts from Maggiore s quest , but also his specific argument. Despite rather, because of its anti-democratic characteristics, the US Senate is one of the foremost defenders of democracy this earth has ever seen.