Several years ago, Dick Morris abandoned his career as a political strategist to dedicate himself to transforming the US from a Madisonian to a Jeffersonian democracy. He wanted me to help him with that lofty goal by designing a web-based system, but we weren't able to agree on the particulars of the vision.
I enjoyed getting to know him, short as our acqaintance was. I read several of his books with great interest.
Well, you can say a lot about the way our democracy has evolved since then, but I doubt that Mr. Jefferson (or Madison, for that matter) would have been all that encouraged. And Dick has move on to professional punditry within Fox News. After taking much of the credit for Clinton's election, he has turned on his employer, writing books on the alleged nastiness of both the former president and his wife.
This leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I never much appreciated all the interest in Newt Gingrich's personal life (to take the one prominent Republican victim of this trend), and I am hard pressed to see what public interest Dick's books serve.
One thing is for sure: it doesn't do much to improve participation in American politics. Mr. Jefferson, whose own personal life was far from untroubled, would have been disgusted.
Sent from my Blackberry
Gosh, you are incredibly misinformed. The Clintons turned on him. He fired him with great humiliation. I think Morris has been remarkably restrained. This just reveals your bias towards Clinton. And Vote.com is still doing great, he hasn't moved on.
Posted by: Gunnar, Maryland | November 18, 2004 at 08:03 PM
He was fired because he had disclosed confidential information to a hooker he was having "an affair" with. Whatever you might say about vote.com, it is nowhere near changing the face of democracy in this country, and his books only feed the dysfunctional behavior we're seeing.
Posted by: Leif | November 19, 2004 at 07:23 AM