Democracy, power to the people via general suffrage of the citizenry enjoys broad rhetorical appeal. As a "theory" democracy suggests that the " majority " is equivalent to the best rule. The U.S.A. was not constituted as a democracy because the founding fathers recognized the limitations of a democracy. John Stuart Mill, in his essays On Liberty outlined the limitations by reference to the "tyranny of the majority " where reason is subordinate to rhetoric and style. Over the years the U.S. has strayed from the path ( Constitution, 1789 ) established as the foundation for a nation; in 1870 suffrage was extended to males of color and servitude, and in 1920 females were given the right to vote. Today, in the U.S., with the exception of certain convicted felons, virtually every U.S. citizen over 18 has the right to vote. Ballots are printed in many languages, the is no educational or literacy requirement, the ability to read and write is not required. Absentee ballots by mail are counted, and there is no verification process to determine who actually filled out and submitted a absentee or mailed ballot. In the U.S., voting is a flawed process at best, and a flawed process that has lead to flawed results.
Rhetoric and style have given rise to leaders who have dark pasts: Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930's were able to seduce their nations, and lead them to ruin. General suffrage, and the U.S.A. brand of democracy, is an incubator for fascism. Naive populations can be whipped into a frenzy by idealistic rhetoric or religious referent. The danger in today's nuclear world should be obvious. The U.S. atomic bombing of Japan in 1945 is an example of how things can go wrong. Today the U.S.A. is on another nuclear threshold, and a naive population swayed by rhetoric and style, is poised to unleash the "Armageddon paradigm " ending the majority of viable civilization in the name of God. The U.S.A. has thrown logic and reason aside, opting for rhetoric, style and religious zeal to determine who pulls the nuclear trigger.
1 comment:
Do you think the platonic idea that intellectuals and philosophers should rule the masses is a more appropriate solution to democracy? What if we had a very strict requirement to vote. Perhaps a college education and knowledge of the political process as a requirement to register. Then maybe then we can tone down the rhetoric and lay down some real ideas on the table. But then again its just another way to take power from some and give it to others. The whole idea of democracy is to give the middle class control over the ruling and upper class. A voting requirement like that would put a lot of people in a position of no power and their issues would be ignored by the ruling class.
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