Hub readers all know we live in a representative democracy wherein the elected representatives of the people are not compelled to cast votes congruent with the views of their constituents.

The assumption by the powers that be was the Goldman Sachs Bailout Plan was going to be just another example of representative government: the elected representatives voting in opposition to the views of the vast majority of their constituents for approval of Goldman's self-bailout plan.

I am not a right wing conservative by any definition of the term, and am aware that the defeat of the measure was spear-headed by rightest Republicans.

But if the reports are true that public input to Congressional and Senatorial offices was running something like 100-1 against Goldman Sachs' Plan, and if one has even the slightest vestige of confidence in the concept of actual democracy, and the possibility implicit therein that there is a certain collective wisdom that resides in the unwashed masses, then today's vote should be cause for jubilation. Why?

Because for once there appears to be near unanimity on the part of the People. No, they can't explain a Credit Default Swap or a Collateralized Bond Obligation or perhaps even the generic term Derivative, but they can smell a rat, or in this case, a whole bunch of rats.

One fact cannot be argued: The Ruling Class got the country into this mess, be they Democrats, Republicans, Wall Street traders, bankers, Hedge Fund managers, Senators or Presidents. The public is saying to them, "We don't trust you to get us out of this mess."

That's my view as well.

The crisis is a Black Hole. Paulson-Bernanke have an examinable track record in place: They've poured, essentially unilaterally, $600 billion or so into the Bear Stearns "solution," the Fannie, Freddie "solution," and the AIG "solution" (as well as countless 100s of billions directly into the banking system through the Fed.) Those actions proved not to be "solutions." The Paulson-Bernanke tag-team, with the best of intentions, was WRONG. The current Plan is more of the same, with a minor switch in targeting.

The problem, like a Black Hole, has enough gravity to suck a virtually infinite amount of capital into its abyss, never to escape, never enough to sate the monster. The People can sense this; the Ruling Class cannot.

Finally, I'll end with a quote from an Indiana Congressman who voted against the Goldman Sachs Bailout Plan:

"We are now in the golden age of thieves. And where I come from we put thieves in jail, we don't bail them out." — Rep. Pete Visclosky, Democrat.

MyBlog: http://ProteanPerspectives.blogspot.com