“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Winston Churchill’s famous quote has been employed repeatedly over the years to reinforce the idea that democracy is the preferred way for states to be managed and for people to be governed. In Western societies, this is considered an accepted truth by the vast majority and is only challenged by extremist groups on the far fringes of the right or left.
America is the world’s oldest continuously functioning democracy and is often used by democracy advocates in autocratic states as a standard that should be followed. Yet over the last several decades, American democracy has faltered, with the federal government becoming increasingly chaotic. Currently, the two major political parties for the most part are ideologically driven, with overwhelming partisanship that has resulted in governmental gridlock, making it nearly impossible to enact needed legislation. Thus, the parties are unable to work together for the good of the people and the benefit of the nation. Compromise and pragmatism are unknown words in the lexicon of today’s politicians.
Political corruption is also rife in America with huge sums of money required for candidates to get elected and then re-elected. This situation has allowed lobbyists, special interest groups, and Super PACs controlled by inordinately affluent citizens to dominate the electoral process, determining who will or will not get elected. Their power lies with their disbursement of funds to politicians and the political parties, and the “independent” advertising and media buys they support. In addition, through polling and various other data-gathering techniques, they are able to discover which voters are most likely to favor their candidates and then mobilize them to actually vote on Election Day. Thus, these Super PACs and special interests shape governmental policy through the politicians they place in office.
However, the underlying problem that plagues American democracy and runs rampant through all other democracies is citizen ignorance of the political issues when they go to the polls. This allows the special interests, lobbyists, and Super PACs to convince citizens to vote for their candidates. Most voters obtain their information about candidates from political advertisements, sound bites on television or the radio, or through endorsements by religious leaders, celebrities, or talk radio hosts. They do not seek data vetted by independent sources or generated by independent entities that are more likely to provide truthful content, unbiased by political leanings or partisanship. Because citizens do not carefully examine the points of difference between politicians and their stances on important issues, they may elect candidates who do not represent their interests.
Indeed, officeholders may often promote or support bills directly counter to the interests of their constituents, enacting legislation injurious to the people who have backed them. When doing so, they paint their actions in such a way that constituents believe they have been helped, when in reality it is the special interests that have benefitted. Of course, because these voters have not paid close attention to the issues, they may be hoodwinked by politicians’ views and not understand that their interests have been undermined by the politicians for whom they voted.
Certain key words are frequently used by politicians to justify their positions or their votes and make constituents believe they have been aided by particular bills, though in actuality they may have been hurt by the legislation, or it was neutral at best. This is true as well for politicians’ refusals to back specific legislation. The key words most often used are jobs or employment, and economic growth or economy. For example, I voted for subsidies or tax breaks for the oil industry because it would spur economic growth and aid employment. Or I voted against immigration reform because it would result in job losses for American citizens. Or I voted for subsidies for corporate farmers in the farm bill because it would provide jobs and aid the economy. Or I’m against a minimum wage because it would result in job losses.
In many instances, the effects of legislation and officeholder’s votes may not be evident and the rationale behind their support for a bill may not be clear. So unless constituents are watching carefully and analyzing legislation, they may not be aware of how their representatives voted or the reasons why he or she voted a certain way.
The electorate in a democracy has a responsibility to know where the people representing them in government stand on all the important issues. Overwhelmingly, citizens have abrogated this responsibility, without which democracies cannot function effectively. Knowledge of political issues does not depend on intelligence, but on diligence in the use of independent sources to examine politicians’ beliefs, connections to special interest groups, and where their campaign funding comes from. It may not be easy and straight-forward to mine this information, but educated voters are required for democracy to work. This is true not only for America, but in every state that claims to be democratic. Unfortunately, the current dysfunctional state of American democracy can be traced to the failure of the electorate to educate themselves about the critical political issues and the views of the candidates. Thus, control of our democracy is increasingly in the hands of battling Super PACs and special interests that spew out information absorbed uncritically by the electorate.
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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