How would a truly democratic, accountable country declare war? War is a huge decision, usually made by people with concerns vastly different than most citizens have. How would we declare war if government were accountable to the people?

What would a truly democratic America look like?

First, let’s imagine we were a truly democratic country. We’d still have a representative democracy, where we elect members of Congress. Imagine, though, that the people guided congress. Picture this: we all vote on major issues in order to inform our representatives, plus to communicate with ourselves. Knowing what we want, we’d expect results.

Each of us would check off the issues we want reports on, and our representatives would be able to report to us. Our representatives, knowing what we want, would work together to deliver it. They’d be free from pressure to adhere to a party or to a philosophy or to donors. They’d be free to work with us, the people, to do what’s best for us and the country.

How would a people declare war?

Idiots in charge can declare war for a specific goal, like “stopping Saddam Hussein.” But for us common people, we want a realistic goal plus a solid plan. We want to know from our military experts how long it’ll take and the cost, plus how confident they are.

While some of us would take our leaders at their word, others of us would raise these questions and doubt. This is called, “the wisdom of the crowd.” There were many doubts before we declared war on Iraq. But because we don’t have a real democracy, critics were silenced or ignored and Bush and his nation-builders forged ahead. They made full use of the sin of pride to ignore doubts that came from Middle East experts and military experts.

We’d wage war much more responsibly than government

Plus, we’re the people, so we know we are the ones who’ll have to pay for the cost of war. We’d levy taxes for it up-front.

Plus, we would have either started a draft or increased pay or benefits to entice more people to join the army. We wouldn’t have sent the national guard- Bush and his team did that because they feared a draft would make the war too unpopular. Perhaps we would have sent them at first, if our armed forces weren’t sufficient. But they’re not meant to be our standing army for long-term wars. Bush and his team refused to start a draft because it would make the war less “popular.” And they didn’t even equip the soldiers they sent over there. The American people would have equipped them and started a draft.

And I’m sure we’d want a plan for the peace, afterwards. If we destroy a country, what’ll it cost to clean it up afterwards? There’s no way the American people would have agreed to disband the Iraqi army. Many people were knowledgable enough about Iraq to foresee that would result in endless conflict.

This is our country- we should have a say

This is supposed to be our country. We should have a say. I’m not advocating getting rid of Congress or having the public vote on bills. I’m just saying we should have a say so we can know what we want, and so our representatives can actually do their jobs representing us.

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