Are Americans Too Dumb for Democracy?

Currently the US is bogged down in an untenable military situation ostensibly in the name of bringing democracy to the Middle East, specifically to Iraq. The US proclaims the American model of democracy a triumph and a governmental ideal that the rest of the world should emulate, but is it? With widespread election fraud rampant in the last two US Presidential elections and only a 30% approval rating for both the sitting President and Congress, is democracy really working in the US? Who is to blame for the problems with democracy in the US? Does the blame belong to corrupt politicians who bend and even break laws and morality to further their own gains while they manipulate the American populace into believing their lies? Or does the fault lie ultimately with us, the American people, for living like pigs in a consumerist pen, content to allow the politicians free reign to chase their agendas as long as we have HDTV, TiVo, Nike, and all the McDonald's we can eat.

Liberal Democracy
In theory, the idea of a Liberal Democracy that the US aspires to is a credible form of government. In a Liberal Democracy, the "common" people elect leaders to represent their interests in the nationwide government. There is a series of checks and balances to make sure that no one branch of the government has too much power over any of the others, and all the branches need to work together in order to create real change. In practice however, it's usually the case that slickest politician with the best campaign ads and sound bytes gets elected, goes to Washington and lives high on the hog for a few years funded by special interest groups while doing just enough work to convince voters that their issues are being addressed. The day after an election politicians start planning out their re-election campaigns. The next Presidential race is 18 months away but already the hopeful candidates are starting to hold debates and create TV and radio buzz for themselves. Campaigning becomes a full time job, and the candidates who are already serving in Congress or other elected posts ignore those jobs in favor of spending time on the campaign trail. The idea of a Liberal Democracy is sound, but in practice it's just not working.

The Blame Game
So who is to blame for the failure of democracy in America? In a recent NY Times column Gary Bass suggests that ultimately is the politicians who are at fault for not better guiding the American people to make better choices. Is it really the fault of the politicians for being greedy, self-serving elitists? Or is it the fault of the American people for putting those kinds of people into elected office based on advertising campaigns? Most people don't vote in an informed way, if they vote at all. They vote randomly, based on sound bytes given in TV commercials or radio ads. Or, more often, they vote on a partisan basis. Once they ally themselves with a particular party they will vote along party lines, often knowing nothing about the candidates. Despite the massive amounts of information now available to Americans most people are happy to stay ignorant of anything regarding politics. There is disgust or anger about certain policies but that is overcome by apathy. Americans no longer believe that the common people can truly create change in the world, so we've stopped trying. We self-medicate with mindless TV, movies, shopping, food... anything that will fill out time without asking us to think or participate. Ultimately, the responsibility rests on us, the American people, for the failure of our leaders to lead and massive blunders that have ruined our reputation throughout the world. We put our leaders in office, either through our direct action (voting) or indirect action (not voting, not fighting voter fraud, not making informed votes etc).

Is There Hope for Democracy?
Will eight years of disastrous "leadership" by President Bush be enough to convince us that we need to be more informed and more active in politics? No ne can really know for sure. The sweeping election of Democrats in the mid-term election was a very hopeful sign that possibly American voters had realized their mistake and wanted to correct things but the Democratic legislature's complete in ability to be at all effective signals that it might be too late to fix the system we have broken. And it is the American people who have broken it. Schools no longer teach civics or the fundamentals of democratic rule and theory, people no longer care about being politically active, people feel disconnected from the politicians they elect to office. Many people don't have the first clue about how American democracy works. When the framers set up American government they were operating on the principle that with inalienable rights come inalienable responsibilities. One of those is the responsibility to be educated on the political process and to be active in government. Even if it's just being more informed about the people we vote for, Americans have dropped the ball on doing the things we need to do in order for a Democracy to function effectively.

It's still possible to save the Liberal Democracy that the framers intended for this country but it remains to be seen if the American people can pull themselves away from the trough of popular culture and advertising based culture long enough to do it. If we don't, real democracy in this country will be replaced by oligarchy, where a group of businessmen and corporations make decisions that effect every aspect of our lives, even our health care. Or worse, a theocracy, where a group of "Christian" businessmen will decide those things. If the American people can't take back the power of self-government that they willingly traded for Big Macs, SUV's, reality TV and designer clothes, maybe we don't deserve democracy.