Should the King of England name Miami’s commissioners?

It took 10 ballots, but Miami finally took the right path and allowed democracy to prevail by electing a fifth commissioner to fill a vacancy. The commission had been deadlocked on whether to save money by appointing someone until a later election.

The arguments of two commissioners were that the city could save $300,000 by just naming someone to the seat Ken Russell vacated in a failed run for higher office, that campaign time was short for a Feb. 27 election and that off-season turnout would be small.

Those excuses are all absolutely true, but irrelevant.

Democracy is expensive. Elections cost money. It always costs less to appoint than to elect. But in our nation, we believe in representative democracy. If we had wanted appointed government, we would have kept the King of England in charge.

We believe in government of the people, by the people and for the people. That means the people should do the voting, at a cost of $300,000 or whatever, rather than let someone in authority decide for us.

As for the argument that campaign time before Feb. 27 is too short, it’s true that it’s tight to hire a campaign team and build a political machine. But it’s certainly not too short for a grassroots effort, and only folks in one district of the city are to be represented.

The candidates might not have time for billboards and TV ads and polling and the like, but they have plenty of time to talk with neighbors. If they don’t know or talk with enough neighbors, maybe they shouldn’t represent those neighbors.

As to small turnout, the same principle applies: the only turnout that should matter is people who care about electing a specific candidate. Candidates who can’t whip up enough caring area voters shouldn’t wind up winners.

Just as democracy is expensive, democracy is also messy. We will never get every voter to the polls. The Soviet Union came very close – voting was one choice, Siberia was the other. And remember, with almost 100% turnout they had only one candidate per office. It was virtually voting at gunpoint.

In the city, some commissioners had a motive to appoint: the commission often splits 2-2, but adding the “right” person would ensure that one faction would always prevail. Only because Chairwoman Christine King and Commissioner Manolo Reyes stood firm with “no” votes did the city avert that travesty of democracy at its worst.

Democracy dies a little when officials name people to elective offices, such as when Gov. Ron DeSantis implanted a new majority on the Broward County School Board. It should remain government of, by and for all the people, not just the people who are best at manipulating power.

To be clear, we must elect those that represent us all in general government. We elect governors, mayors, legislators, commissioners and councilmen. They stand in for all of us to decide on taxes, spending and administration. They are generalists and represent the people, every woman and man. They do our government business day to day.

Appointments to office are proper in specialized jobs. Judges, for example, are specialists in law and few know enough law to select wisely for those roles. The fact that we elect some judges does not produce more qualified judges, just better politicians.

Likewise, the fact that in 2024 Florida is forcing the county to begin electing a sheriff to run the police will not necessarily improve county policing – more likely, the opposite. People who head the police need special knowledge, but the state is telling us that whoever gets the most votes will be our best top cop.

The county election team will handle the city election impeccably. The city doesn’t have to lift a finger beyond notifying voters of the election and paying the bills. That’s the best-functioning part of democracy.

Whether voters will pick the best commissioner is, of course, the messiness of democracy. Often the best people won’t run. Sometimes we get true champions of the people on the ballot. Whether voters are wise enough to choose them is often in question.

But two commissioners who tried to appoint someone this month have this to ponder: the voters did, after all, elect them. Would it have been better for Miami if prior commissioners or the governor or the King of England or Joe Stalin had been able to appoint someone else instead of letting the voters elect them?

Democracy is imperfect, but it’s still better than all the alternatives.