My friend and neighbor, Mike Finley recently wrote a column in which he decried the fact that the heart-felt contents of 100,000 e-mails in a congressman's mailbox were reduced to a summary indicating that about 60% were against the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He lamented, "The quality of the reasoning was never a factor. Nor the sincerity. Just the raw statistics. Democracy by the aggregate ton."

He went on to discuss the dominance of partisanship in the congressional debate and decision on impeachment, comparing it to the division between the supporters of the Union and Confederacy in border states during the Civil War. . . "each side demonizing the other."

He concluded: "And how, unless we find the courage to express our opinions again, and to

listen to the opinions of one another, as if they truly matter -- as if we

matter -- will we ever come together again?"

I found myself at first in agreement with almost everything Mike said, but somehow I also felt unease with my own agreement. So I decided to think about it.

My first thought was triggered by the phrase "Democracy by the aggregate ton." That recalled my college lessons on the history of democracy. Wasn't that precisely the sort of argument that was advanced by those who thought government should be left in the hands of the aristocracy? Why, if we let everyone vote, we'd have government by the aggregate ton! No weight would be given to the quality or sincerity of the arguments! Everything would be reduced to a sort of, well, for want of a better word, poll.

As to the demonization of each side by the other, it seems to me that the process is carried out most effectively, or at least the flames are fanned best, by impeccably reasoned and passionate arguments. Arguments demonstrating clearly and undeniably that the other side is a collection of blithering idiots following evil leaders. Arguments like we hear in congress.

It was clear from the beginning that direct government by the ton was a practical impossibility for a society of any size, so our founders, with the distinct advantage of being able to displace their natural instinct to demonize by directing it across the Atlantic at the aristocracies, came up with a nifty compromise. The most important piece of this compromise was the recognition (not original with them) that there is a way to end acrimonious debate. Vote. Instead of listening following hereditary aristocrats, they'd get a couple of guys to demonize each other for a while, then mark down whichever one they thought was better at it on pieces of paper, and weigh the results. The one with the lesser tonnage would go home, and the other would be the designated demonizer. The rest of them could go back to making a buck and raising kids. But (and here's the genius) the license to demonize would have a sunset clause! They wouldn't have to kill him or wait for him to die if they didn't like what he was doing!

Using tonnage to end debate works pretty well! It's hard to stay mad at a ton. A ton is a concrete measurement, a fact. You can't look at it and say, "Yeah, but . . . ." So, by making a vote the only way to finally do business, they created a system wherein, after a hard day of demonizing each other, the demonizers could all go out and have a beer. Furthermore, if their demonizers don't get around to voting, they don't get any business done, and they could be dumped after a while.

Demonizers, unfortunately, are inclined to become obsessed with demonizing, which is fun, and to forget all about other stuff. They divide into packs which then get into a sort of frenzy of demonization of each other, with a feedback loop. Each pack is afflicted with the contagious delusion that God, good, right, and reason are exclusively on their side. No amount of shouting at them, throwing cold water on them, or sending them e-mails that say "cut it out and get back to business" has any effect on them. The only way to stop the frenzy is to send them home. All of them.

So stop wasting electrons and killing trees sending messages to the formerly perfectly good people we've elected to office in Washington who have become caught up in the frenzy. Let's send messages to each other instead, all urging each other to send them home where they can get help and recover. They're beyond reason, so let's use the only remedy we have. Votes. Aggregate tons of them.