In a democracy, the mills grind very slowly. That is the nature of democracy. Only in a dictatorship do things happen immediately.

I am amazed (no, I lie—because I've been around awhile and I've seen this kind of irrational impatience before, a lot, I'm not amazed at all), at the irrational impatience that some people display, while at the same time revealing their lack of understanding of the way a democracy works.

They want a particular agenda passed, and when the party that promises that agenda actually gains a tiny majority in Congress on a Tuesday (election day), if they haven't delivered the whole package by Wednesday noon, some folks have a purple-faced hissy-fit and want to form a lynch mob.

When there is significant opposition, you have to negotiate, persuade, and wheel and deal. You can't just issue a peremptory order and have it happen.   Caligula could. Constantine could. Napoleon could. Hitler could. Kim Jung Il can.

But Nancy Pelosi can't.

And Cindy Sheehan wouldn't be able to either!

Democracies are often slow and frustrating, but I prefer to be patient and keep the pressure on than to have to live under other systems where I could be imprisoned or shot for speaking my mind.

Don Firth