Sorry, as I was vacuuming the carpet, I was thinking about efficiency in government, and that the quickest way to do things would be to have a dictator. I hear that fascists are notoriously speedy about things like public policy, suppression, and executions. It takes all of one second in a dictatorship for someone to go from exalted general to the chopping block. Talk about efficient!
Then it occurred to me that I like the democratic ideal, and that civil liberties and protection for minorities are worth the process of checks and balances. Dividing power between different entities, while allowing for transparency is a horribly slow way to do things. I guess we as citizens need to instead practice patience, at least when it concerns checking, rechecking, and limiting power for any one group of people.
Now I'm not saying that corruption and waste should be tolerated: there is a difference between prudence and profiteering, circumspection and crookedness. We should not mistake one for the other.
However, if the democratic process is slow to act, do not froth at the mouth, because the alternatives are far, far worse.
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