What justification do we as Americans have for our belief that democracy is the end of the evolutionary cycle of government? We say it gives power to the people and that it’s the best system out there. Even if both those claims were true, should we cease? Given an unlimited number of options, can we say that we have somehow hit upon the absolute most perfect one and that we are practicing it in its most perfect form? I’ll humor the apologists and assume we should stop here if both these tenets are true.
Democracy gives power to the people.
In the US, we function as a representative democracy. This means we vote for representatives who are then responsible for our governing. Could someone point out the difference between this and a republic? This is far from the power afforded to people under a direct democracy. Unfortunately, there aren’t really any people under direct democracies–at least not on a large scale. Well, I am willing to concede that democracy does give power to the people albeit very little.
So, people under a representative democracy (or republic) are granted the power to choose their leaders. What gives any kind choice value? We must be equipped with certain knowledge in order to decide. Where does our information come from? For most of America, news comes from a major media outlet–a TV station, a newspaper, or the like. It’s too bad that the nine media conglomerates own 90% of the media. How can we trust a corporation to deliver unbiased news and to choose which stories may be relevant to the populace? I can tell you that the biggest media extravaganzas of my life have not shaped my views of the world in any meaningful way. Well, maybe you can get real news from one of the remaining 10% of media outlets if they aren’t too busy worrying about impacting ad revenue. Even if we were given all the information needed to make important decisions there would be no way to evaluate the stories. I hear every day both that the situation in Iraq is improving. I also hear that it is getting worse. One of these must be inaccurate. I will never know for certain which one it is.
Let’s pretend I live in a direct democracy. I have all the information I need to make informed civic decisions. I go to the polls to vote. Maybe this democracy thing is going to work after all. Then the powers that be pull their trump card–their last line of defense against a democracy in opposition to them–vote caging. Vote caging is a deliberate (not to mention illegal) means of suppressing votes. Greg Palast, an investigative reporter who uncovered a caging operation from the 2004 election, estimates 4.5 million votes will be stolen in the elections of 2008.
Even a representative democracy may afford a small bit of influence to the people–if it works. Ours does not. It has not. It will not in the near future without serious reform. That’s where it really breaks down. Most people who are able to vote are near the middle of the US political spectrum. This means they are not interested in changing things very much. For virtually any politician to suggest far-reaching changes of the electoral system would not only mean almost certain failure of said changes but would also be political suicide. The reform needed to fix the system cannot happen because the system will not let it.
It’s the best system out there.
In our examination of the power granted to people by democracy for self-governance, we have established that our democracy, in its current incarnation, is almost hopelessly flawed. There was another popular political system which, in one of it’s largest incarnations, was flawed:
Marx predicted that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development. Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. (via Wikipedia)
Let me make it clear that I am not suggesting communism as an ideal alternative. (Hopefully, this will head off the anti-communist zealots!) However, what right do we have to wave the flag of superiority when the factor which lead to our victory in the Cold War was most likely nothing more than the fact that we were able to spend $8 trillion fighting it?
Conclusion
Democracy doesn’t work if it’s a republic. Democracy doesn’t work if people are left selectively ignorant by concentrated media. Democracy doesn’t work if votes are stolen. Democracy, in our case, just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work like lots of other systems of government. It certainly has its share of flaws.
Who are we to push this flawed system on people of other lands? to decide they can stand to sacrifice a few hundred thousand of their people so that their flawed system can be replaced by another? Shouldn’t we at least find the best system before imposing it on others? I’m afraid if we really knew enough and were willing to do what is best for everyone and everything, we would find a solution much different from any government we have ever known.
Tags: american democracy, democracy, development, election, elections, foundation, government, political, right, scale