Democracy and its discontents — part 4
If you haven’t read the earlier parts, you may want to do so: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
tldr
- elections alone have not prevented democratic decay
- we are in a crisis
- democra.me’s BeatJosh injects truth back into politics
- how to help
Who should I vote for?
Politics is not a public relations exercise. It is fundamentally a contest of ideas about what best serves the national interest. It is the ability to evaluate competing visions of the common good that marks out a truly great people.
John Howard
- Australian prime minister, 1996–2007
We decide who to vote for based on what we know of the candidates and their parties. In Australia we must vote, but there is no need to know. Since a significant number of us have little time for — or interest in — politics, tools such as the ABC’s VoteCompass are great time saver. They ask us a series of questions on contentious political issues — immigration, abortion, funding for healthcare and so on — and then tell us which party our views correlate with most closely. Internationally, isidewith.com is equally helpful. Here, for example, I can look at the range of opinions across the United States:
I was surprised last time I used VoteCompass that my own views aligned with a small political party I had not heard of before and which didn’t have a candidate in my electorate. In fact before the May 2019 federal election, I only received a paper pamphlet from two parties, indicating that other parties didn’t have the funds or candidates to campaign in my area. And online I can only recall seeing ads for the United Australia Party, which wasn’t my cup of tea at that moment.
Without such online tools or direct advertising, I am left to figure out who to support from news snippets, conversations with friends and family, and my own upbringing.
My personal experience confirms the conclusion of Mark Stears of the Sydney Policy Lab. Getting to the table to engage in the contest of ideas which John Howard spoke about requires a big dose of money and organisational power. The most wealthy and organised parties are the Australian Labor Party and the Coalition of the Liberal Party and the Liberal National Party. They are the perennial heavyweights, and any protest votes get frittered away across a smorgasbord of smaller parties. That will not change without institutional reform, such as banning political donations or political advertising.
We’re not getting any younger here
The world’s moving on so fast, these young people… they don’t think like we think in politics. There’s got to be that sense of a big future vision.
Alastair Campbell
- Political commentator
In 2019, the average age of a person who watches ABC news in the evening is 72. Good for you, for keeping yourself informed on issues of national importance, and because you’re in a dwindling slice of the population.
Since 1971, we have enjoyed longer lives, on average. Plenty has changed in the world since then. The internet is pervasive, we read the news on our phones, the Berlin wall is in pieces, the space shuttle came and went, the world population has doubled, a billion Chinese are better off… The capitalist system is working, right? Are we so comfortable now that that we fret about the second-tier issues? In so far as the threat of nuclear war has receded a little, yes. It was an existential threat. It took a coincidence of visionary leaders — Gorbachev and Reagan — to turn that corner. Whatever their other failings, they will be remembered for this. Other solitary, visionary leaders have come and gone, yet the big, hairy, global issues remain:
- Inequality
- Overpopulation
- Climate change
- Pollution
With each day that passes, these stresses compound the untruths. The untruths cause us to hesitate instead of acting to cure democratic decay. It should come as no surprise that political institutions framed in the horse-powered era are inadequate as we enter a new Great Filter. We need to shore up our democracies.
Raising the baseline of citizen awareness
In recent times, struggles over whether to share the wealth have been a key reason for democratic failures.
Sam Wilkin
- Geopolitical analyst
democra.me’s aim is to act as a multiplier for citizens who want to reverse democratic decay. Our first project, BeatJosh, injects truth into political promises, statements and news by providing a clear context for any taxation or spending decision:
- The Brexit bus promised to take the £350M a week being paid to the European Union and use it to better fund the NHS. Is this number correct? Is it significant? What do UK residents get in return?
- The Australian Education Minister claims that his party is providing “$310bn in extra funding” to government schools.
- In the USA, “Green New Deal”, “Medicare for all” and “free college education for all” either are or are not realistic.
- In Malaysia, Uganda and Namibia, where did all that money disappear?
- In France, how else could a fuel tax have been handled?
- Why doesn’t Hong Kong have better public hospitals?
- In Sri Lanka, why is 51% of the entire budget devoted to ‘Financial Service’?
In particular we can’t have our cake and eat it; there are two sides to every coin. Political decisions are fundamentally allocation decisions. With deficits and debt the norm, every promise of extra funds to one group means another group will miss out. Have some honesty, treat voters like adults, and get out in front of the big issues that threaten us all.
How you can help
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re doing what we can
The Beatles, Revolution
As of December 2019, we are working on the second iteration of BeatJosh, and considering a number of subsequent initiatives. We’d love to have your help, whether that be in loading a budget for your area, building products, suggesting ideas or just spreading the word. We look forward to hearing from you below, on Facebook, on Twitter or via our website.
