Will of the people?

It seems pretty clear that when the public mood suits the aims of the political class, democracy's a good thing, but when those interests diverge, those in charge have to do what's "in everyone's best interest..." (meaning theirs, of course).

Exhibit A: The financial bailout, opposed by a majority of Americans, but shoved down their throats anyway after a week of Congress pretending to listen to the public.

Exhibit B: New York City's council unilaterally overturning term limits imposed by public referendum:

After a spirited, emotional and at times raucous debate, the New York City Council voted, 29 to 22, on Thursday afternoon to extend term limits, allowing Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to seek re-election next year and undoing the result of two voter referendums that had imposed a limit of two four-year terms.

Of the Council’s 51 members, 35 would have been barred by term limits from seeking re-election next year. On Thursday, 23 of those members voted in favor of extending term limits, and 12 voted against.

Opponents of the bill accused the mayor and his supporters on the Council of flouting the will of the people — as expressed in a 1993 voter initiative that established a limit of two consecutive terms and a 1996 referendum in which voters rejected a Council-led effort to change the limit to three terms. They said that democratic procedure demanded a public vote on the issue, no matter what one thinks of Mr. Bloomberg or term limits...

Supporters of the bill said the dire economic situation confronting the city — and the possibility of multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls — demanded continuity of leadership.

By that reasoning I guess President Bush should plan to stay in office after January, since we're engaged in a self-declared worldwide war against "terrists." Surely that's at least as important as a financial crisis, and demands "continuity of leadership," right? I mean, these people are individually SO VITAL to the survival of our way of life we ought to just let them choose how long they stay in office, right?

Just as we've seen with referendums in Europe on the EU constitution, democracy today has devolved into a "vote until you get it right" drill, so that when those in power finally get the result they want, they can claim the fig leaf of public support as they then flout the real interests of the public. Whether through state courts overturning public referendums or actions like the one of the NYC council, "we the people" really don't have the voice we think we do anymore.