A Taste of Democracy

I just finished reading Dana Nelson's thought-provoking Bad for Democracy: How the Presidency Undermines the Power of the People, which rather convincingly makes the case that democracy ceases to function when citizens limit their actions to simply voting every four years and placing their entire concept of government within a single office. Touching upon yet moving beyond concerns of presidential overreach and theories of the Unitary Executive, Nelson also insists contemporary views of the Congress as "partisan" and "argumentative" reflect a surprising disdain for the nuts-and-bolts matter of democracy - that is to say, the system of checks and balances put into place by the Founding Fathers, and their recognition of the need to limit presidential power. Our desire to merely act in solitude every four years and then live with the results induces helplessness and apathy, while our tendency to place our trust in one individual suggests a contemporary business model (the CEO as leader) rather than any belief in power by and for the people. As the country splinters more and more into distinct groups and becomes isolated from dissenting opinions, the more our entire concept of democracy moves away from discussion and compromise and more towards handing the job off to a larger-than-life individual.

I was thinking about Nelson's book when I walked over to the Ocean Beach branch library last week to hear San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders speak to the press and the community about his revamped 2010 city budget. You may recall an earlier flurry of posts I made concerning the decision to close down library and rec centers to make up for a projected budget shortfall, and the large turnout from Ocean Beach residents determined to speak out against such measures. I was among dozens who spoke at a city council hearing downtown directly to the mayor, laying out specific arguments against the recommended closures. I helped take part in a rally at the OB library and a march through our downtown area. Many others wrote letters and emails to the Mayor's office and city council members. The city council eventually voted down the closures, or at least voted to defer deciding on the issue until later in the year.

Perhaps it really was the response from the community - the protests, the letters, the speakers, the emails - or perhaps it was pressure from certain city council members hearing from their constituents. Whatever the reason, the Mayor apparently did hear the voices of the people, and made the decision to craft a new budget which would not touch any library budget, branch or services. He went out of his way to reference this, stating that San Diegans had clearly demonstrated that libraries were an important aspect of their communities and something not to be touched during budget shortfalls. And he chose to announce this new budget in front of one of the very libraries he had once threatened to shut down completely - our branch in Ocean Beach.

The mayor doesn't get out to OB very often, although he did ride by during last year's Christmas parade, something he referenced in his short speech last week, noting he heard cries from the crowd to "save the library" as he went by (one of those cries came from Jane, sitting at the open window at The Harp, our local Irish pub). And while the Mayor returned to Ocean Beach last night to offer a community budget briefing (not very well attended, perhaps due to the late-afternoon mercury rise), it's unlikely he'll be back in town anytime soon. Which made the decision to speak in front of the library all the more welcome. I recognize it as a smart PR move, of course, although PR works for both sides - in the middle of the press conference, the library's children story time let out, with nearly forty adorable wide-eyed kids wandering right through the assembled crowd and the assembled media cameras. Save our Story Time, indeed!

This was not a total victory, of course. The new budget merely took libraries off the cutting board and placed the salaries of city workers there instead. The Mayor's promise that all city salaries would see a 6% decrease to make up for the shortfall - from the mayor's staff and the fire department to the librarians standing behind him and the janitors who clean the rec center bathrooms - suggested a democratic, across-the-board compromise. Yet it also served to deflect blame away from poor fiscal practices and mismanagement and place it squarely on the heads of local unions, who will no doubt continue to be painted as obstructionists as they attempt to protect the salaries of workers. There's also little doubt that a 6% decrease will impact some greater than others - while certain staffers may need to choose a different downtown dining establishment for Tuesday power lunches, I'm wondering if the janitors will end up losing their vehicles to the repo man.

But despite these concerns (and despite my continuing amazement that the possibility of charging San Diegans for garbage pickup was still left out of any official discussion on meeting a budget shortfall), the fact remains that this decision on the mayor's part, imperfect though it may be, represents a significant victory for local democracy. It's not often that one can take to the streets or approach city council to oppose a measure, and then, several months later, find that elected officials have heard your concerns and acted accordingly. The Mayor tried to shut down our library, and we said no. And that sounds like democracy to me.