Waking the Beast
Lessons in civil engagement
No democracy is perfect, and even the most developed and “free” nations have flawed electoral systems. If elections are flawed, the resulting government will reflect it. The vote is a powerful tool, though its a privilege often taken for granted. In a representative democracy, one has the chance to rule those who rule him, while in a direct democracy, one has the chance to rule himself. Essentially all western nations have a representative democracy, with the exception of Switzerland, which exhibits the purest form of direct democracy. Citizens have the ability to propose changes to the constitution, ask for referendums on any law voted by parliament, and they can personally vote on any issue at any level, several times a year. Switzerland may be a rare anomaly, but in all seriousness, I’m not sure why other nations continue to reject direct democracy. However, I do have a theory or two.
Almost every state’s origin began with an aristocracy. States arose because of agriculture and mineral wealth, and the aristocracy formed to defend land and resources that accumulated ever faster (via the conquest of plants, animals, and man) into surpluses, which could be bought and sold. Those who had the best tools (like ships, irrigation, and explosives) to derive more resources, acquired larger surpluses, and therefore wealth, once they traded their assets. Aristocrats became the ruling class because they ruled the flow of goods. To maintain their resources, the ruling class would need armies. To maintain their armies, they would need resources. And the rest is history.
Where am I going with this? Well, in every nation, the aristocracy was a small minority of the overall population. With the greater access to resources, they also had greater access to education and manpower, both necessary for establishing and enforcing laws. In most cases, a system of government was established that specifically considered the threat the majority of citizens posed when united as a group. Early lawmakers in the United States feared that direct democracy was flawed because it was not stable. In the words of James Madison, democracies had always been “incompatible with personal security or the rights of property”. John Witherspoon, a member of the continental congress (lasting from 1774 to 1789) said that pure democracy was “very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage”. John Jay, the first chief justice of the United States stated that “Those who own the country should govern it”. These men, and others before and after them, wanted no chance of an insurrection lead by a majority, which would explain why they also felt a need to distinguish between property owners and non-property owners, only granting the vote to the owning class, who were determined, largely by themselves, to be the only true stakeholders in our nation.
What was true then is true today; Power still lies in an aristocratic elite who own the means of production. Consider trade like a triangular flow. You have 3 elements: individuals, corporations, and government. These elements have a system of checks and balances. For an individual to start a corporation, she will need the approval and regulations from her government and will pay taxes and fees to them. That corporation will then need individuals to labor for it, and individuals to buy its goods or services, so they can turn a profit. Individuals are able to influence their government to achieve favorable policies, and corporations are as well. Governments need both individuals and corporations for tax revenue. In this simple, yet complicated, web, it is the highest bidder who has the loudest voice. If any one of these entities decides to “take a shortcut” in its duties for the sake of maximizing profit, any one of them could consequently suffer. Without regulations and the ability to uphold them, individuals, corporations, and governments alike will become ravenous in search of the “best deal”. Lets take a closer look at the “shortcuts” taken in America that are plaguing its civic engagement.
An easy start on reforming our democracy begins with voters. It has become overwhelmingly clear in recent election seasons that a large number of Americans simply don’t vote. Our turnout rates are terrible; in presidential election years, only 55% of eligible voters actually voted. In mid-term elections, turnout is downright dismal, at roughly 30%. Democracy is not a “set it and forget it” thing, citizens must constantly participate in the democratic process to update and maintain an ideal, functional government. This also means beefing up our civic education in schools and at home.
On the flip side, some people may be participating too heavily in the democratic process. The people I speak of are actually corporations, and their interests include profits, profits, and more profits. Just like consumers who take shortcuts to find the best deal, corporations are always taking shortcuts to lower their expenses and maximize their profits. This is why the federal minimum wage in the u.s. is absurdly low. It is why corporations outsource the manufacturing labor of their products to China, Central America, and Southeast Asia, where labor is even cheaper. Its the reason the fast food industry uses the infamous “pink slime” as filler in meat patties. It’s the reason why farm labor and food service workers have exemptions from age and pay regulations that other industries don’t. Did you know children young as 10 are working in the tobacco fields of Kentucky, or that the minimum wage for tipped workers in several states is less than $2.50 an hour? The industry always has ways of fighting back or ignoring regulations that might cut into profit.
When governments struggle for money like a corporation, they emulate them. Our government is guilty of the same kinds of corruption and competition that corporations engage in. Every time one of these instances of greed and deceit come to light, it damages the reputation of our government and the trust individuals have in it, causing them to respond by fight or flight. Vote or abandon hope and run.
We’ll start with Gerrymandering. If you haven’t heard, Gerrymandering is the process by which voting districts are drawn, by the people who represent them, in order to guarantee they are homogeneous or at least provide a simple majority of voters belonging to one party or the other. It’s been called “representatives picking their voters” by critics, and I fully agree. But it should also be noted that it happens in most states, and within both parties.
Next, take a look at healthcare. Most western nations have universal healthcare, or socialized medicine. The U.S. on the other hand, is deeply invested in the private insurance industry, with insurance companies able to profit off the sick and dying, and mercilessly gouge them on drug costs. The Pharmaceutical and insurance industries are shameless. The politicians who deny citizens socialized medicine are only looking out for their corporate donors, not the health or well-being of the american people.
Perhaps one of the biggest slaps in the face for citizens, courtesy of corporate america, is science denial. It only makes sense that industries and politicians try to obscure and deny information about their activities that could hinder power and profits. Coal, oil, and animal agriculture all contribute to the pollution and degradation of our earth, and are not sustainable. But they are profitable, and those profits need protecting. So begins the flow of environmental misinformation, straight from the mouths of those destroying it and profiting from it. For example, there are individuals trying to protect their investments and obscure the science behind agricultural pollution from hog confinements and chemical runoff into water sources in Iowa. Its just like the people trying to tell the citizens of Oklahoma that waste water injection from fracking isn’t contributing to the multiple daily earthquakes they now experience. Its also reminiscent of the disappearing wetlands and increased flooding in Louisiana and Florida, expedited by shipping and oil. You can guess what they said in each case as well… “Nothing to see here”. Profits prevail over people yet again.
Clearly, money is a motivator no matter where you look. But it isn’t the only motivator. Getting people’s attention requires a sense of urgency and discontent, as if inaction wasn’t an option. Nothing can do that better than fear. The natural response to any fear is fight or flight. Depending on the person, different fears evoke different responses. The people motivating you to vote for them, know this quite well, and they use it to their advantage.
For instance, Bernie Sanders is motivating people with fear, and so is Donald Trump. There isn’t a candidate who hasn’t, but you need to take note of what fears are being evoked.
Bernie Sanders is motivating people who are afraid of losing their voice and their livelihood to corporate interests that buy access that average people cannot, people who are afraid of never attaining financial security because of stagnant wages and relentless cuts to our social programs, those who fear unemployment due to outsourcing and budget cuts, and those who fear that climate change will leave us with disastrous environmental effects. He is motivating people who fear our military actions abroad ultimately do more harm than good, those who fear that corruption and misconduct among law enforcement agencies has reached epidemic proportions, and those who fear the outcomes of a deregulated, unrestrained marketplace.
Donald J. Trump is a shining example of one of the billionaires meddling in politics that senator Sanders explicitly warns the american people of. You would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see the ties that Donald trump has to big business and the interests of capital. He conflates running the nation with running a business, and makes no secret of it. His efforts are allegedly self-funded, he is remarkably careless of his gross dis-alignment with the will of the people, and utterly nonchalant about his exclusionary policies and polarizing rhetoric. He rarely, if ever, acknowledges his wrongdoings or perversions of the truth, and often uses money as a buffer for his recklessness, much like a major corporation.
Like Sanders, Trump uses fear too, but a different kind. You have undoubtedly heard him generalize the Mexican people as criminals, bringing only drugs and violence with them to America, as well as his raging animosity toward China in the context of trade, but it also wasn’t long ago he was using xenophobia to fuel his “Birther” movement, attempting to prove president Obama was a foreigner, claiming he was illegitimate, and inciting hatred from the staunch anti-Obama crowd. In typical Trump fashion, his latest move, calling for a travel ban on all Muslims, is nothing short of asinine. It is a well known fact that some of Donald Trump’s most outspoken endorsers are nationalist, white supremacists. Trump, like many other candidates, is also a champion of exploiting fears of terrorism and immigration, neither of which can be prevented, and are not correlated, despite his efforts to associate them. His response, like many others, is greater military force. Big shock. Its only becoming more obvious that Trump is catering to the fears of very small minded people, who are both ethnocentric and egotistical, much like himself.
Its extremely important to note the role a candidate’s personality can play when trying to convince others. Trump’s popularity isn’t just because of fear or his exclusionary policies, its also his marketing tactics. He is relatively unabashed and impulsive. He has always been an entertainer. People are captivated by train wrecks, clowns, and hare trigger individuals, and Donald trump is all three. He is a textbook narcissist whose illusions of grandeur substitute as credentials, and people love him for it. His confidence and ignorance are crucial to his success.
Letting big business run your government is like letting flies run a zoo. If you take anything from this assessment, remember this, the savviest customer is a salesman.
