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Democracy+ [1]
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Date: 2025-01-20
It’s clear that democracy is ailing in the United States. So, my four-year plan for the near future is to focus on enhancing democracy. My premise is that strengthening democracy will undermine the fascism we see in our politics and lead to a better future in the long run.
So, let’s start with the simple question: What is democracy?
What Is Democracy?
Wiktionary
Democracy defined:
Rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).
A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction.
So, democracy means rule by the people and government as directed by the people who reside in its jurisdiction.
Wikipedia
Democracy (from Ancient Greek: δημοκρατία, romanized: dēmokratía, dēmos 'people' and kratos 'rule') is a system of government in which state power is vested in the people or the general population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitive elections while more expansive definitions link democracy to guarantees of civil liberties and human rights in addition to competitive elections.
So, democracy is government where state power is vested in the people of the state, and more generally where that government protects the rights of its citizens.
Why are the rights of the citizens important? This goes back to the question of legitimacy. When is a government legitimate?
Democracy and Legitimacy
The Declaration of Independence provides a clear statement of what the founders of the United States intended.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…
[United States Declaration of Independence, Paragraph 2]
So, the purpose of government is to protect the rights of its citizens. And the consent of the governed gives those governments legitimacy.
How do we know that the people have given their consent?
The form of government and its actual operation must provide the means for the government to ascertain the will of the people and reflect that will in its actions. The more democratic the government is, the more closely government actions will reflect the will of the people.
The Republic
At the start of the republic, we picked a republican form of government. The intent was obvious if you look at the Declaration of Independence and the federal constitution. Creating a republican form of government was intended to make sure we had a democracy, rather than a monarchy. Where the Constitution specifies a republican form of government, it parenthetically means, “not a monarchy”.
The point of a republican form of government is to ascertain the will of the people.
It’s not perfect. The moment someone else represents you, there’s an inherent opportunity to get it wrong. Your representative might act to your liking—or not. But no representation of the will of the people when there are more than one is going to be completely reliable. Even so, it can represent the will of the group.
Representatives have a duty to faithfully represent your interests to the degree that is possible. As soon as someone represents more than one person, that’s not entirely possible. Your interests may conflict with those of others your representative represents.
But at least there is an intention.
The intention of our representative form of government is to reflect the will of the people. That’s what makes the United States a democracy.
An imperfect democracy. Obviously, some people get represented better than others. People with wealth and economic power often get more representation than those without. There’s a conflict of interest.
Still, the intention is democracy.
A More Perfect Union
There’s an ever-present challenge to democracy. Our democratic ideals are always under duress from the vicissitudes of human desires.
We started with a very imperfect democracy. Only landed gentry (meaning men) got to vote. Slowly, we’ve expanded the franchise. I believe that this allowed us to more closely match government action with the will of the people. How do you reflect the will of the people if the bulk of them get no say? As we gave the right to vote to more classes, we made the country more democratic.
But we still have a long way to go. Even now that all adults have the franchise, many are denied by voter suppression efforts.
I personally believe these voter suppression efforts changed the outcomes of close presidential elections in the near past. It is very possible that without voter suppression, no Republican would have won the presidency since the turn of the century.
That undermines the legitimacy of our government. Has the U.S. government been legitimate at any time in the twenty-first century?
So, a high-priority effort to enhance democracy should be the effort to stamp out voter suppression.
I’d like to put that on the table. Would you be willing to help end voter suppression?
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