Who Speaks for "The People"?
Is it the guy punching a police horse?
This story caught my eye this week:
And specifically, this part of that story caught my eye:
Okay, well: They were charged. They might be innocent. Let’s not conflate a charge with a conviction. After all, a robust commitment to due process is a fundamental principle of a liberal society.
Of course, there is this photo:
I’ll admit: It doesn’t look good for that guy. But let’s not rush to judgement; after all, maybe the horse started it.
Ordinarily, an Australian punching a police horse wouldn’t phase me; it’s a statistical certainly that at any given moment, a drunk Aussie somewhere on Earth is cold-cocking an animal. But several recent stories (including that one) have left me with the same thought: Direct political action is overrated. We romanticize it, and we give it more political weight than we should. People who protest or attend meetings often claim the mantle of speaking for “the people” even when the people aren’t on board. We sometimes let small groups distort our perception of what “the people” want, even though there are better ways of measuring the popular will. Here’s my thinking…