OpEdNews -- The Republicans' Disdain For Democracy

"The dominant conservative philosophy of our time is a belief in a ruling class of elites. In practice it prefers for citizens to be ignorant of the most basic elements of policy and nonparticipants in the process of governing. On the heels of the different tactics I highlighted last week to keep voters from actually voting (columnist John) Fund's comments was a revelation. He represents those who have shaped our bellicose foreign policy and forcefully pushed for an unregulated, laissez faire economic state of nature.

They prefer undemocratic forms and seek to discourage the diffusion of knowledge. They want for us to be incurious about disastrous policies or abdications of responsibility, to dismiss our most important policies as trivia. They want for us to not ask questions, even when thousands of our fellow citizens are sent to die in a faraway land, or when the financial industry melts down as it has this week. They want for us to not pay attention, or to not care. They don't want high information voters or low information voters. They want no information, and no voting. They resent our attempts to influence our nation's direction. They want to be left alone to shape the country as it best suits them, for us to take our lumps and theirs as well. They want for us to not bother." (Emphasis Mine.)