Democracy's Darker Side -- An Election Week Reminder
Election Day was Tuesday. Votes continue to be counted. It appears that when all votes are counted Joe Biden will be President-Elect. There will be challenges, anger, grief, and more. This has been one of the bitterest election seasons in history, though there have been others, including 1800 (Thomas Jefferson vs. John Adams). We have persevered through difficult times and the institutions have held. But, we must always be vigilant to prevent the undermining of these institutions. While democracy, even the representative form we have here in the United States, is in my mind the best system available to us, it's not perfect. In fact, it has its darker side. Below you will find an excerpt from my book Faith in the Public Square. It came out in 2012, during the presidency of Barack Obama. It originally appeared as a column published in the Lompoc Record in 2008, while President Obama was still a candidate. What I wrote then remains pertinent today, to this moment. Therefore, I'm sharing it with you so that we can make sense of our current situation.
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DEMOCRACY’S DARKER SIDE
I believe in democracy because
despite its messiness it’s the best political system yet devised. In theory, it
empowers us to take control of our lives, but if it’s to work we must take
responsibility for our lives and actions. Freedom and responsibility are the
two sides of the democracy, and an effective democracy requires that these two
be kept in balance. Or, as St. Paul said: “‘All things are lawful for me’, but
not all things are beneficial” (1 Corinthians 6:1 2).
Democracy is the one system of
government that offers citizens the opportunity to join in governance. Even if
the process is confusing and at times inane, we get to choose our leaders.
Often the political process seems to continue on without end, with one election
cycle giving way to the next. Disenchantment with the two major political
parties has led many Americans to describe themselves as Independents, though
it’s unlikely that a third party candidate will become President anytime soon
(the last time a new party emerged that had a chance at achieving that goal was
the 1850s when the Republicans replaced the Whigs). These Independents live up
to their moniker, making them difficult to classify. But, now that neither
party controls a majority of votes in the nation’s elections, they have the
opportunity to sway elections.
All of this makes for a messy
democratic process. Despite the benefits of democracy, it can have a dark side.
This dark side is rooted in the fact that we must entrust our lives—as the
electorate—to the whims of our fellow citizens. We who vote are fallible women
and men, and the people we choose to represent us are equally fallible. It’s
interesting that despite the cries of the citizenry about a corrupt and
unresponsive government, we tend to be pleased with those who represent us. It’s
the other person’s choice who is the problem. We see this dark side in the way
we go about choosing a candidate. Effective democracy, especially in its purest
forms, requires a diligent and informed electorate. Voters need to have the
time, the education, and the inclination, to look into the issues, as well as
the backgrounds, values, and views of the candidates.
In real life, numerous factors
influence our choices, some of which may be less than honorable. It could be
the way a candidate speaks or looks. We may take into consideration a
candidate’s gender, race, or age. Fear is a potent influence – and candidates and
parties are very adept at manipulating them. Then there are the promises
candidates make, promises that often pander to our prejudices or sense of entitlement.
Too often we vote our own self-interest at the expense of our neighbors. That
is, altruism often takes a back seat to me-first-ism. We may voice our support
for the biblical premise that calls on us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves,
but too often love of self comes before love of neighbor.
Propaganda is a dirty word when
it comes to the political system, but propaganda can have a potent effect on
our voting habits. Indeed, we have a propensity for being swayed by misinformation,
which is why campaigns throw mud. Sometimes it’s subtle – maybe a commercial
that makes use of half-truths or out of context statements. This misinformation
can also be very explicit and be spread virally via email or blogs —with the
source of the information an unknown. The most obvious example from recent
years concerns the continued whispers that that suggests that Barack Obama is
foreign-born, and thus ineligible to be President and that he is a Muslim,
despite his own strong profession of Christian faith. As long as we allow
ourselves to be influenced by such misinformation, it will continue to haunt
us. The only way to stop such distortions is for us to do the necessary fact-checking.
That, however, takes both time and education.
Talk of spreading democracy to
the far corners of the globe seems like a good idea, but it’s important to
remember that democracy has its dark side. And remember too that even with two-plus
centuries of practice, Americans haven’t perfected the system. There may not be
a better system of governance, but because democracy relies on people, and
people according to my theology aren’t perfect, this system will never be
perfect. The Founders of our nation understood this well, which is why they instituted
checks and balances. Besides these checks and balances, we can find hope in
grace. We have a chance to grow in our practice of democracy if we learn to
extend to one another the grace that has been given to us.
Excerpted from Faith in the
Public Square: Living Faithfully in 21st Century America (Energion
Publications, 2012), pp. 82-84.
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