Harris’ flip-flop on fracking, as well as her wavering or lack of statement on other issues, would indicate to this observer that VP Harris does not see this election as being about issues.  She seems quite disinterested in issues, dispatching campaign worker bees to deal with it.  It does not seem she seeks the office to see to it that certain things are done, and certain things are not done – it seems she wants the office for its own sake.  The media, I think, thinks this is about personality.  But the politicos know it is about raw power.  Power not in service to an agenda for the people, that would require a stance on issues, but power for the sake of the power holder.  That does not mean Harris would set herself up as an absolute ruler, not in our administrative state, but it does mean that her constituency is that administrative state – not the populace.

The intent of democracy is to make the government accountable to the people, not the other way around, which was the case in the monarchies of old.  Small government and local rule are the best way to accomplish that.  Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War saw the federal government come to outweigh the states.  FDR laid the foundations for the administrative state, and it has grown in bursts, punctuated by a few periods of stasis or even minor shrinkage, ever since.  Barack Obama and his government by pen and phone turned a growth burst into a cancerous growth that now threatens the health of the democracy proper.

Consider recent history.  Obamacare was passed by an unprecedented act of legislative legerdemain now known to all as “reconciliation.”  It was an act of sheer will and clearly against the expressed will of the populace as a special election held just before saw Obamacare as the central issue and sent an overwhelming message that it should not pass.  Next the judicial filibuster was eliminated – removing one of the great checks to the abuse of power in the Senate.  And now we see an entire party jettison conventional democratic process in its selection of a presidential nominee – they did not even bother with the smoke-filled room debates at the conventions of old.  None of this is outside the boundaries of the Constitution but is stretching the fence wire to its very limits, and strongly indicates a lack of respect for the spirit of democracy.

You see, the administrative state exists based on a simple presumption – that some issues are just too complicated for us mere peons.  But here is the problem with that, the presumably smart people are still people and are prone to all the foibles the rest of us are and are thus tempted to accumulate power for self-enrichment as has been true for monarchs forever.  All those things mentioned in the preceding paragraph, and more, that we have jettisoned in recent years, were not designed to “preserve the constitution” so much as they were designed to act as a check on the common human tendency to selfishness.

The Founders created our republic on the presumption of an educated and moral populace – and if my wider than most circles of friends and acquaintances is any indication we largely have that.  Most people are fully capable of engaging on the issues, learning what they need to and acting accordingly.  But the government has grown blind to that fact and tries to prove the point by making rules that are too complex for even a lawyer to deal with.  Consider COVID and the labyrinthine rules adopted in some places.  You remember when Michigan forced stores to rope off some aisles because shopping there was deemed “not essential,” or California arrested a guy for surfing – on the ocean – alone??

In matters big (the selection of a presidential candidate) and matters small (where to shop during a pandemic) the Democratic Party and its administrative state constituency have clearly indicated that they represent themselves, not the people.

Democracy itself is in the dock this election.  Vote accordingly.

ADDENDUM (a few hours later):  From Jim Geraghty this morning:

The people voting for her clearly don’t want or need policy details. They trust her judgment to figure it all out later, after she’s been elected.

If Harris wins the election, she’ll have an argument that she has a mandate to do whatever she pleases, as very few Americans demanded more specifics from her.

In other words – she wants to be queen, not president.