When is a democracy not a democracy? When it’s a pseudo-democracy.
The Founding Fathers did not envision the United States as a democracy, but as a Republic, with the right to vote restricted to men of property or tax payers. Did the Framers not consider that property-holders might vote in ways to help them preserve or increase their wealth, rather than in the best interests of the nation? Actually, it was probably a matter of social class that determined who would have the franchise. Those writing the laws perceived members of their own stratum as most suitable to assess candidates for office. They were afraid demagogues might convince the mass of people to vote for them by stoking their fears and making outlandish promises. There was also concern that votes of poor people might be bought by politicians or that those less affluent might vote in ways injurious to property-holders.
James Madison noted in Federalist Number 10- “The most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.” In favoring a republic over a democracy for the United States, Madison further said that “It may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves.” His words reflect the distaste Madison and the other Founders had for mass democracy.
Over time, the state that the Founders had established was converted into a partial democracy. All white men were given the franchise, then black men with the XV amendment in 1870, and eventually women with the XIX Amendment in 1920. However, blacks in South were restricted from voting with various political maneuvers until the Civil Rights laws in the 1965 provided federal Department of Justice oversight for state voting that was deemed discriminatory. However, the Supreme Court in 2013 ended federal oversight of voting, deciding that there was no longer any obstruction of voting based on race.
The claim that every American was now able to vote as he or she desired with every election was a fantasy propelled by those on the right who wanted to end federal oversight. As Trump and other Republicans have noted, if every American who wants to vote is able to do so, the Republicans can expect to lose every future election. Thus, the only way that Republicans can win national elections is through voter suppression or manipulation of the vote as occurs with gerrymandering.
Active voter suppression occurs regularly in many GOP controlled states. Voter rolls are purged of people who have not voted for one or two elections, or whose address has changed and they did not re-register. In states like Georgia or Florida, hundreds of thousands of voters could not vote in the last election. Voter ID laws have also been passed where people have to have legal IDs like drivers’ licenses with information that is exactly the same as their registration forms, or they can be disqualified. Places to vote have also been cut significantly in some states, forcing people to have to wait in long lines if they vote in person. And the polling stations are often set up in white neighborhoods, distant from where minorities live. Voting hours and days when people can vote have also been reduced making it more difficult for minorities to vote. And voting by mail, which would make things easier for all voters has been opposed by many Republicans who feel that fraud would increase, though there has never been any proof of this.
The Electoral College is further evidence that the United States is not democratic, the president able to lose the popular vote and still get elected. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 and still wound up in the White House. Electing Senators is another instance of an undemocratic system where a vote in Wyoming is worth 40 or more than a vote in California. Populous states need to be represented by more than two senators if the system is to be more democratic.
Demographic change in the United States is inevitable with the birth rate higher among minorities than among white households, even though immigration is being restricted. Instead of Republicans trying to change their ideology to appeal to these current minority voters, they have been working to prevent these citizens from voting which has to hurt the GOP in the long run by alienating minorities. America will be a pseudo-democracy until every persons’ right to vote is protected and everyone’s vote has equal power.
The Uninformed Voter
www.robertlevinebooks.com
Posted at 09:17 AM in 2016 election, 2018 elections, Citizens United, Congress, Court appointments, Current Affairs, Democratic principles, Donald Trump, gerrymandering, Plutocracy, Political corruption, Politics, Republican Party, Voter ID laws, Voter restrictions, Voter Suppression | Permalink
Image by Jorge Guillen from Pixabay
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020