Democracy is believed to be our finest form of government available in the modern era. It manifests the ideals of equality and choice that are seen to be of highest importance after a human history plagued with despotism and aristocratic rule. So when you talk to someone about elections, the state of politics, or the implementation of policy, rarely is it the problem of democracy that comes up; rather, that of bipartisan politics, ideological restraints of segments of the voting population, or the insidious agendas of the politicians in power. What I take issue with is whether or not we have a democracy at all in the face of certain pressures and disparities that exist in our contemporary social landscape. Here are three considerations that problematize democracy as a functional description of our government – let me know your thoughts.
Firstly, let’s look at the alternative functional description of ‘plutocracy’. The term implies that the country is run by the wealthy – an obvious dysfunction of a democracy. Since the Citizens United case, it has become a precedent that there is no limit to how corporations can ‘speak’ their opinions. This allows our corporate individual to be the loudest voice in a nationwide dialogue, preventing our non-corporate-subsidized candidates from having a real chance against those receiving campaign backing from multi-billion dollar transnational corporations. Can we call it a democracy when corporations—whose actions are in accordance with the profit interests of their executives and stock holders—have the upper hand on creating political agendas by carrying endowments outside of the imagination of any individual? The majority of our population is precluded from consideration when the campaigns are defined by the needs of the wealthy – a necessity if a politician wants a chance at being elected.
Well, someone may say, if this is true then voters should just ban together and find a people’s representative and the majority support will remove the wealthy from the political reigns. This of course assumes that voters have an understanding of governmental workings, structures of legislation, and their own needs as they apply to policy decisions. This brings me to the next challenge facing democracy: education.
The asymmetry of education in our country is salient to nearly anyone who takes a moment to step inside an inner city school district. The funding is off balance due to tax availability in poorer neighborhoods, parents of low-income background often are too busy working or lack the cognitive skills to provide a didactic home life, and even students in bad situations who enjoy school often cannot afford charter programs, private schools, and college in order to get the advanced education available to the wealthy. As these issues become further perpetuated, the ability for our voters to have equal dispositions to understand their situation and be able to voice and represent those positions becomes further harmed.
Finally, let’s assume that a person who was born into a difficult existence comes to realize and understand his or her own misfortunes; of course, their opportunity to vote will allow these viewpoints to be heard. This assumption is challenged by the fact that felons are stripped of their voting rights, and that many underprivileged citizens are often too entrenched in the battle to pay bills and feed mouths that they are not equipped with the time and resources to be concerned with the vote. Our former fact of felons losing their opportunity to vote makes it such that those who have lived through and understand the weight of our social asymmetries are restricted from having a say in our government. Further, keeping a lower class that is desperate and submissive to the higher end of a capitalist hierarchy prevents us from having a proper reflection of the nation’s constituents in our governmental bodies.
Each of these challenges brings into question the very idea of democracy in today’s America. These are thoughts I try to weave into my conversations with people about electoral politics and the current state of America. What do you think about them? Any one you find core to the constraints of American democracy? Any you disagree with?
No comments:
Post a Comment