Democracy, Another Political Poison
How did the world get gas lit into believing democracy is good again?
I do want to make something abundantly clear at the outset of this article.
By critiquing democracy I am not advocating for fascism or any other totalitarian -ism. No ifs, no butts, no coconuts. My favored political system is the American republic system, even then I have a whole host of criticisms for that too.
Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.
James Madison, Federalist Papers №10
One of the oldest criticisms of democracy is that the purest form of democracy is an angry mob. This is factually correct.
Anger is a motivating emotion when it comes to elections, and politicians know this. Abortion, gun rights, LGBTQ people — you name it. If a campaign thinks it can get you mad, they will use it.
Anger motivates action. Actions like voting, organizing, protesting, and rioting.
Think back on the several major protests that happened in the past few years. What was the motivating emotion?
Anger.
Black Lives Matter, the Women’s March, January 6th, and others were built on anger. Anger over injustice and elections.
Which brings us to the next criticism. That voters are dumb and easily manipulated.
The Greek Thucydides blamed orators for spreading fake news or their own version of the truth to the masses, who are pretty dumb. A skilled orator could whip up an angry mob with a lie or half baked truth about the opposition, a person, or a law. What legal protections would they have?
The same holds true today.
Many people get their news from social media. Social media is well known for its accuracy and lack of bias.
People are easily influenced, especially if it fits their biases. Going out of your way to fact-check everything you see is tedious and time-consuming. That brings us to the second criticism of democracies.
The voter is dumb.
The voter is very dumb. I am also very dumb.
Before the elections, I always want to learn more about what and who is on the ballot. I never do that, and come election time, I am staring at a long list of names for the “second judicial district judge” and deciding to close my eyes and point at a name.
My vote goes to the blank space two inches to the right.
Being educated about the people on the ballot is time-consuming. It becomes far easier to vote along party lines. It’s lazy, and it leads to people like Diane Feinstein and Mitch McConnell being in the Senate far past when they should’ve been shoved into a home.
In Nevada and many other states, there are also amendments and other ballot measures. These are complicated questions with some pretty serious consequences.
So of course the airwaves and billboards are filled with easy-to-remember slogans like “Vote yes on question one for women.” You have no idea what the question is, the implications, the policy, or the debate surrounding it; you just know a yes vote might benefit women.
Since I live in Nevada, I must also endure ads about California’s ballot measures. I totally have the ability to vote on Question 297. Go to hell.
We have mountains of criticism aimed at democracies. Almost every modern government is created in some way to mitigate the power of the masses, whether it be a parliament, an electoral college (which is good and necessary, by the way), or some other check on the people.
Yet, the western world has been gaslighted into believing democracies are just “good.”
A quick tangent about this map. This map can easily be called “How good is your relationship with the US map?” and very little will change. With a few exceptions, like Mongolia for example. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, but apparently China is worse.
Weird. Anyway.
We in the west could be forgiven for believing that democracy is just a euphemism for “good governments” that are free and respect human rights. You would be wrong.
The United States, for example.
The United States is an ex-colony that conned, conquered, and bought its way into its current size, all while grinding a former slave population and an indigenous population under its heel.
You could say that a democracy is something to work towards and achieve. The United States subverted the democratic will of Central and South American countries. They built democracies, but elected “the wrong people” and suffered for it.
The United States invaded the Middle East under the guise of installing democracies. Democracy abroad means electing US-friendly regimes; that’s not democratic.
You could argue that democracies are better for human freedom. And I would point to the virtual panopticon built by American intelligence agencies that we all live in. I would point to the CIA, NSA, and our local police.
You can argue anything and everything about democracies, but you just might have to look inward and realize modern democracy is just as awful as every other type of government, if not worse, because at least those kinds of governments don’t try to hide how awful they are.
My name is Michael Vincent Hawthorne, writer for the Midnight Variety Hour. I appreciate you, reader. Thank you for taking the time to consider and read my article. I try to write something new about once a week.