We’ve got a problem
Everyone loves democracy, but no one actually thinks it’s working. This isn’t news (ask Winston Churchill) but there seems to be a lot of hand-wringing about it lately. And it’s not just about whether a certain President is “attacking democracy” or whether a certain election was “stolen.” There is a general trend in this country that people don’t think the government actually represents their ideals and concerns. According to the World Values Survey, Americans rate the importance of living in a democracy at 8.3 out of 10, but rate the democratic-ness of the US at 6.0 out of 10, and decreasing.
I am fully conditioned, as a consumer of media who has picked a side in our two-party system, to blame this squarely on the other party. I have rational reasons for this and can point to plenty of sources to back me up. But everyone feels this way. In a fictional debate I’m having with my Uncle Ray, a Trump supporter in Florida (fictional because he has too much sense to engage in this debate with me), he would show me facts that support his view, I would call them nonsense and show him facts that support my view, he would call them fake news and so on and so on until forever. No matter which side you’re on, it’s the other side that is ruining our democracy and your side that’s going to save it.
It took me an embarrassing amount of reading and listening and thinking this month to come up with a really basic way out of this loop: democracy is not the same as politics. The overwhelming majority of people in this country - about 80 percent - believe democracy is important. Putting aside the obvious and frightening question (WHO ARE THOSE 20 PERCENT?!?), it’s clear that if democracy itself were on the ballot, it would win in a landslide. But that’s the thing - it’s not on the ballot. It IS the ballot, and most of us are glad about that, even if we don’t think it works very well. So let’s change it.
Can we talk?
I’d like to propose (or cajole, or beg) that we turn away from shouting that we’re right and you’re wrong and start debating what we want our democracy to look like. Some people are already doing this, mostly professors in more or less academic ways, think-tankers, etc. But many people are stuck, feeling like the system is rigged against them - because it is (see links for proof, as if you need any). So let’s start talking not about which party should be in charge of the system, but how the system itself isn’t serving us and how it could be better.
I think we have a chance to bridge the gap between our polarized parties - or at least between Uncle Ray and me - if we all take a deep breath and a step away from our party of choice and start asking not who’s right, but what’s fair. Maybe I’m too optimistic, but I’m encouraged by evidence that people actually care more about having a fair process than about what policies are enacted. So if you think your side lost (or almost lost) the election because the system was rigged against you, maybe the solution isn’t to make sure your side gets (or stays) in power, but to focus on un-rigging the system. Maybe we could get to a democracy that more people think works better.
Is that even possible?
To those who feel that changing our democracy, defined by our constitution and implemented by laws, courts and executives, is impossible or undesirable, please remember that changing all of those things is exactly what our country’s founders would want us to do. Consider this quotation from Thomas Jefferson (which you can see in his very own handwriting here):
...laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.
Please also consider the fundamental ways our country has changed since the founding. Relevant differences include who counts as a citizen - everyone, not just white male landowners - and what we consider ourselves to be citizens of - primarily the country as a whole, not an individual state. (Not to mention changes in technologies...the Constitution was literally written by hand on four pieces of parchment; you can consult it here as a PDF, a format the founders could literally not have understood even if it had been explained to them.)
But how?
That’s the rub, of course. I don’t have the answers, but here’s what I’m trying.
Become active in an apolitical civic organization. For me, this is St. Louis Mutual Aid. Yes, it’s mainly a bunch of young, liberal activists right now, but it’s really about helping neighbors, and that applies to everyone. And my goal is to recruit some non-young, non-liberal, non-activists to join.
Talk to people on the other side of the political divide. You know some, I’m sure. Try to find something you agree about - like that our democracy should be fairer. If (or when) you or they revert to a political stance, find a way to get back to common ground. Show them some civic love. (Sorry, Uncle Ray, but this means I’m not done bothering you.)
When you find yourself getting worked up about something in the news (yes I do shout at my phone sometimes), try to reframe it, or at least see how it’s part of our current democratic system and recognize that the system could change.
Anyone have other ideas?
Other interesting bits
Two New York Times articles caught my eye lately: one on the idea of equity pay for women and one where white men talk about why societies collapse.
This interview with Teresa Bejan was worth all 104 minutes of it. My favorite part: “My...dearest wish is that people can just take seriously the feeling of righteous indignation on all sides, not grant that all indignations are equally righteous, but grant that everyone experiences their indignation equally righteously.”
Garrett Bucks wins Thanksgiving this year.