Never let it be said that comedians aren’t capable of making a good point now and then. In what had to be one of the most unlikely Bill Moyers interviews ever, fake newsman, Jon Stewart, said the following: “. . . we elect representatives to go do our bidding, so that we can get the leaves out of the gutter, and do the things around the house that need to be done.”

While some critics might complain that the Moyers-Stewart interview was not as laugh out loud funny as Bill’s little talks with Joseph Campbell, they must at least concede that Stewart hit upon a fundamental truth of the American political system. To put in more exact terms, we delegate the responsibility that we all bear in running the country to a very small number of individuals, simply because we have betting things to do.

The shocking thing is, while Stewart is an intelligent man, it’s just possible he didn’t realize the fact that his statement, while a crucial insight into politics, also describes almost every aspect of American life today. We don’t decide what’s fashionable, or what’s cool to listen to, or what’s cool to read, or think, or watch; we’ve delegated these responsibilities to large corporations, simply because most people don’t have the time to make these decisions for themselves.

Even the corporations we entrust to make our choices for us farm out the actual work to marketing agencies. Sometimes, as in the case of some Calvin Klein advertisements, we reject their decisions. To be fair, ad agencies tend to have a better success rate than politicians.

Thousands of years ago, life was simple enough that a lone individual could be responsible for making all of the choices necessary for survival. However, with the rise of agriculture and specialization, we slowly but surely began to divide labor. Farmers farmed, hunters hunted, and over time we became a wholly unique species. Bees might each have their own jobs to do, but mammals generally don’t. Yet, here we were splitting up the work that the community required to be done.

It was inevitable that some people would specialize in administrative tasks. These people became the ruling class, and they’ve been with us in various forms ever since. There isn’t much difference between forms of government; they’re all structures with fundamentally the same goal. All of them have a ruling class, an oligarchy, responsible for making decisions. The great innovation of representative democracy is that it allows an oligarchy to rule without too much interference from the masses. There are occasional, regular disruptions ever two, four, or six years; but since they almost completely rule out the possibility of popular revolt, they’re a cross the ruling class is willing to bear.

The problem, of course, is that the ruling class doesn’t always make the decisions that some people want. There is a dilemma here, for two reasons. First, no matter how unpopular some of our government’s choices may seem, someone, somewhere, agrees with them. There are people in this country who are perfectly happy with the way things are right now; odds are, it’s nobody you know (unless you’re terribly rich).

The second problem with the ruling class’s bad decisions has to do with the attitudes of the great American public. While religion is not taught in public schools, that’s not to say there is a hell of a lot of dogma being bandied about in our nation’s classrooms.

Any one who spent part of their childhood cutting out construction-paper silhouettes of Honest Abe in his top hat knows that Sarah Vowell got it right when she said that Lincoln is the “American Jesus” (he died for our country’s sins, after all). Democracy, justice, and the American way are given a sacred sheen in our history books. Seen in this light, the idea of dismantling our government would be as unthinkable to most people as the notion of burning down one’s own church. Just as the clergy, no matter how corrupt they get, are the only thing keeping us on the path towards salvation, most Americans know in their heart of hearts that if we mess about with our current government too much we’d wind up bringing about our own damnation.

The other thing that most people realize is that they are fundamentally responsible for the government’s actions, at least in a democracy; it’s the only form of government which explicitly recognizes the fundamental delegation of power that is a part of all large societies.

It’s a bit like monotheism; pagans can blame a whole plethora of deities for their misfortunes, but God can’t make mistakes. If something bad happens, it’s your own damn fault. If the king’s a jerk, well, there’s not much you can do. But if your elected representatives screw up, it’s the electorate’s fault – even if you don’t bear any personal responsibility.

At least, that’s the theory. Conservatives and liberals will go on blaming each other for every fallen sparrow, until the end of time of course. The rest of us, who simply don’t have the time to get involved in the decision making process, can take comfort in the fact that they’re both right – and they’re both wrong too.

-B. C. Silvia