Not Democracy - Two More Cents

I know everyone has an opinion, and opinions may vary. Some of what I’m about to say here is my opinion, and some of it is a simple recognition of facts. What we call democracy in the United States has not been a real democracy in over 200 years. Read on, and I’ll tell you why I’ve concluded that. I will also tell you what I think would have to happen to make it a real democracy.

How can it really be democracy if winning an election depends more on how much money donors pour into a campaign? How can it be about democracy if corporate lobbyists can whine and dine elected officials to get what they want instead of doing what the people want? How can it be a real democracy if candidates make promises they know they won’t keep once elected? How can it be a real democracy when candidates are allowed to blatantly lie in campaign ads, assuming that the majority will believe them, and without being fact-checked? How can it be democracy if the parties in power manipulate the system by gerrymandering and passing laws that make it difficult for their opponents’ constituents to vote? How can it be true democracy when the Electoral College can render your vote meaningless if your state's electorate goes to the other candidate?

The United States of America is supposed to be a democratic republic. Yet it strayed from democracy long ago and has continued to drift further and further away from citizens being in charge, toward special interest groups grabbing control. Gerrymandering dates back to 1812 and was originally used to give one party an unfair advantage over the other. If either party has an unfair advantage, that is not democracy. Does our vote still count? Of course it does, but we often vote based on a good guess rather than actually understanding the candidate and what they stand for. Too often, we vote based on media popularity rather than the candidate’s platform. I will never forget when Bill Clinton and Al Gore were running. A nurse I worked with said, “I’m going to vote for Clinton and Gore because I might never get a chance to vote for two guys that cute again.” Yes, she was serious. She planned to base her presidential vote on who she considered the cutest. That is not democracy.

Socrates, over two thousand years ago, said that voters should be educated about the issues before being allowed to vote. I agree with him. Too many of us walk into the voting booth not really knowing a candidate or what he/she stands for and vote: “Because he/she is in my party.” “Oh, I’ve seen a TV ad on that one.” “I like that name.” Too often, we know little or nothing about a candidate. At least when an amendment or proposal comes up for a vote, there is an explanation of what it will do, whether it will add a tax, how much the tax will be, and what we will get for passing it. That comes closer to democracy. Nonetheless, our system is leaning more and more toward oligarchy and away from democracy.

But how can we fix it? The answer is that we may not be able to fix it unless we elect candidates who are truly dedicated to democracy, the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. Too often, elected officials treat those sacred texts like suggestions rather than law. I wish I could change the law, but after working for Federal and State government, I can tell you change is easier said than done. I will never forget, having worked for the State of Arkansas in the early 80s, seeing a notice on a bulletin board stating that the legislature had formed a committee to save the state money, and that any employee with an idea to save the state money could submit the suggestion to the committee. I came up with four suggestions, including one on how to save paperwork and employee time when preparing certain paperwork. I typed them and mailed them to the committee. I received a polite letter back stating that I had to submit suggestions on an official state form. The letter included a form, but it was nothing more than a piece of paper with a heading and lines below for the suggestion. Okay…So, I handwrote my four suggestions on the “form,” but revised the one about paperwork, noting that they already had my typed and bullet-pointed suggestions in my original letter, so an official “form” was unnecessary. I mailed that to the state committee. A few days later, I received a notice that each suggestion had to be on a separate “official” state form. There were four “forms” in the letter. I then wrote out each suggestion on separate forms, but amended the paperwork suggestion to note that they had now wasted five sheets of paper, employee time, and the cost of stamps when they were supposed to be “saving” the state money. Soon after, I received a notice rejecting all four of my suggestions. In other words, this committee was more about creating a reason to keep their jobs than about doing anything that would save the state money. In Congress and the Senate, I know everything gets even more convoluted. What can we do when candidates in office care more about themselves and their special interests than about the people? Well, if they don’t rig elections through gerrymandering and other tactics, we can vote them out and put someone else in. However, we have to be careful that whoever we vote in, regardless of party, isn't also self-serving and vulnerable to being bought off by special interests.

For the United States of America to be a true democracy, major changes would have to occur. For one thing, we would have to stop letting political factions play “let's you and them fight” by fearmongering about issues such as what’s happening with transgender people in the United States instead of addressing the issues that really matter to the people. Transgender people only make up about 1% of the total population, and I would be willing to venture that most voters have either never met one or didn’t know they had met one when it happened. So, why is this such a big deal? It’s a big deal because it gives people something to fight about and shifts the focus away from the real issues. It has more to do with a political ploy than with the facts.

I know I can’t change the laws, and I’m not willing to run for office. However, if I could make some laws that would take us toward a true democracy, they would be as follows:

1.      No candidate would be allowed to receive donations from anyone, whether it is $250 million in a lump sum or $5.00 that Granny mailed in. Candidates would be given an equal stipend issued by the government. They could use only that, not any other funds, including their own personal money for their campaign. So they also could not donate to themselves.

2.      Candidates would not be allowed to lie in campaign ads. Any campaign ad, rather than being sensationalized, would have to be fact-checked and could only state who the candidate is, what they stand for, why they want the position, and what they are willing to do if elected. Remember that our elected officials are our employees, and a campaign is basically a job interview. Most people would never get away with what they do in their campaigns if it were an actual job interview.

3.      Candidates would be required to engage in at least two televised debates within two months of election day. Neither candidate would be allowed to back out or refuse to debate. Debates would include fact-checkers who would call out candidates for false claims, and debates would air on public television with no advertising.

4.      No one would be allowed to make campaign ads or promote a candidate other than the candidates themselves and their staff, who are funded by the government stipend. Super PACs for any candidate or political party would be illegal, with severe penalties for violations for anyone creating or promoting campaign ads.  

5.      Gerrymandering would be made illegal, and any eligible voter could vote anywhere in their state simply by showing their verified voter registration. In a federal election, any eligible voter could vote anywhere in the United States. In addition, anyone needing to vote would be given the day off on Election Day and could vote early up to two weeks before an election. One thing I like about Texas, despite a lot of things I don’t like, is that you can cast your ballot during early voting and vote at any open polling place.

6.      All eligible voters would be required by law to cast their vote. Australia has had this law since 1918. In the last presidential election, more people didn’t vote than did for either separate candidate. What difference might it have made if more than one-third of eligible voters who didn’t vote had cast their ballots? Maybe the results would have been the same, maybe not.

7.      The “electoral college” would be eliminated. Here’s why: If 49% of the voters in your state voted for candidate A, and you voted for candidate A, but 51% voted for candidate B, then your vote, along with 49% of the other votes, did not count in that state because the electors all went to candidate B. Also, it is not fair that a candidate can lose the popular vote but get into office because they got more electors. It is also not fair that the fate of an election as important as the presidency can come down to one or two “swing” states.

8.      As Socrates recommended, voters would be required to be educated about the candidates and the issues. Perhaps this could be handled by requiring voters to take a simple test at the polling stations before being allowed to vote, indicating their knowledge of each candidate, their record of service, and their platform. If they fail the test, they would sit through a class to learn about each candidate and then retake it.

9.      Computer voting would be banned. We would go back to old-fashioned, hand-marked ballots that a bipartisan committee would count by hand.  I say this because I had a friend who was a computer programmer. She said she was against computer voting. A guy said to her, you’re a computer programmer; I would think that would make you for computer voting. She said, “I’m a computer programmer, and that’s exactly why I’m against computer voting. It’s too easy to hack or manipulate.” We already lack faith in our voting system. That faith needs to be restored, and going back to hand counting, even if it takes longer, would be one way to restore it. Instead of expecting results before we go to bed on election night, we might have to wait a few days. I feel assured that the patience would be worth it.

10.  Lobbyists would be allowed to do nothing more than educate an elected official regarding what they want to accomplish and why. They would not be allowed to fundraise or make campaign donations, or engage in any favors whatsoever.

11.  Oh, and one more thing. There would be no such thing as “presidential immunity” or immunity for any elected official. Absolutely no one could be considered above the law, even temporarily. Also, anyone convicted of a felony would not be allowed to run for public office. However, those convicted of felonies, if otherwise eligible, would be allowed to vote.

There are probably other things we could do to bring us closer to a true democracy, and I know I don’t know it all. I’m sure there will be many, perhaps those who know more about political science than I do, who will find things to criticize about this list, but what I am sure of is that if the things on this list could be implemented, it would bring us closer to a true democracy than anything we have now, especially leveling the playing field by requiring all candidates to operate on the same budget with no donations from themselves or anyone else. Will we ever have a true democracy in the United States? It looks doubtful. In the meantime, it behooves all of us to stop listening to our emotions and start applying a little logic to our voting, educate ourselves about the candidates, their records, and their stated intent, and vote based on informed awareness rather than impulse. It also behooves every eligible voter to register and vote every time.