Rhode Island is interesting from a political science point of view. Historically, we were founded on freedom and liberty. We were the first State to declare independence from England*. It seems a natural fit that we would be a bastion of individual liberty. However, for better or worse, we were also the location of the birthplace of the American industrial revolution. This meant that we were also the place of tedious wage-slave labor. The work was easy, so the pay was low and the hours were long just to barely make a living. Then arose the idea of protecting the little guy from unsafe conditions through labor unions. Unions are not a bad idea. They give power to the powerless, which can be used to protect those powerless people. However, I'm going to throw in one other important historical factor. Prohibition.
Prohibition led to the rise of the mob. Need some liquor? The mob can help you. Need protection from the law to conceal your liquor use? Hey, the mob's got a guy for that. Need protection from the mob? The mob can do that too. Wait, what?
So, back to unions... Power to protect the little guy is great. Power to abuse the little guy or the big guy or anyone who gets in your way? Not so much. Combine the power of the unions with the power of the mob and you've got a problem. Sure, prohibition ended and the mob was rounded up. However, the culture of corruption and abuse of power remains.
The General Assembly in RI has ALL the official power. More
specifically, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader have the
power. They usually are elected by less than 5000 people and often by only a
few hundred people. In recent years, after 5-10 years in power, they get thrown in prison
or are so disgraced that they have to step down. In almost every case they are Democrats. It's couldn't really be otherwise because we have had single-party rule for more than 75 years.
Party aside, the real issue
with our current political environment is that people who vote, do it for the
wrong reason. It's rare that someone votes FOR a person. Usually, the are
voting AGAINST the other person. And when they do vote FOR a person, they are
usually doing it because of their physical appearance (e.g. Obama's skin color,
Hillary's gender, John Kerry's hair, etc.) or some other triviality. Probably
half (if not more) don't even know the first thing about their selected
candidate, which brings up the worst offense of all... Voting for the letter
next to someone's name. People blindly do what they are "supposed to do." If Hillary wins in 2016, it will be because of her gender and
the letter next to her name. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't even vote for
herself, given how horrible she is.
Every election season, I have some hope that things will change in Rhode Island. Every election season I am disappointed. Now that a number of candidates have declared their intention to run for President, it is the start of the new election season. Hence, the new hope rises again. This could be the year. How do Cubs fans do this every year? It's hard enough to do every four years.
* - I was told this all my life, however, there is some debate on the internet over which State was actually first and what it means to "declare" independence. However, our declaration was taken seriously, which is why RI was immediately occupied and suppressed before we could join the Revolutionary War.
