Who Really Are “The People”?
“The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” -Bill Gates
Who attends this gathering? Does it matter? Do you need an invitation? These questions, along with hundreds of others, can help map-out the strenuous search for an efficient democracy today.
According to Giorgio Agamben, democracy may mean either a way of constituting the public or a technique of government (Agamben). This constitution or technique revolves around empowering the people. However, today, not all of the people are heard.
Within elections, for instance, billions of dollars are donated by economic elites and business groups to the candidate in their favor. It is this money that blinds the politicians from what is best for the common people, with what we want- more so, with what the donors want. This money is a tool that builds the inequality within America today. An inequality with the people is causing an inequality in representation, and this lack of representation is the “invitation” that 89 million Americans don’t receive for the town square’s meeting.
Within the U.S. elections, funding is a competition for this “invitation” because it is these names that represent the U.S.. Not only do these high priced titles influence politicians but the people too. With the help of social media today, businesses can create their ideological world and advertise it right on your screen. Facebook, Twitter, even Amazon all hold a personalized section on one’s screen that relates to his or her own interests. These influences isolate people from the real world, and into their own world. Although, “their” world is more so influenced by these business’s world which will lead to similar interests, and, therefore, similar votes. This oligarchy representation hides within the claim of a democracy- simply just a claim because only .02% of the American people are represented.
Although, as little as these people are in the whole picture, they have large differences in opinion. This is where the reliance of the other 89 million people begin. However, not even all of those people will have a say. This is because a large amount of statics over the common people depends on polling, and not everyone has the resources to participate in these polls or some simply don’t have the energy to go out and cast their vote. An article from The New York Times titled “Polls Were Way Off on Donald Trump. Here’s What It Means” by Nate Cohn, emphasizes on polls within the elections. Stating there are three basic ways polls can go wrong, Cohn explains some polls may be “an unrepresentative sample that doesn’t accurately reflect the population it’s trying to measure, a flawed likely-voter model that misjudges the composition of the electorate,” or flawed by “late events or changes in the race after the poll was conducted that moves voters” (Cohn). He continues analyzing Trump’s polls, and later on claims that “in the end, we rarely know why polls are wrong” (Cohn). The exercise in acknowledging the common people is, more or less, seen, but rarely heard. Overall, we are not equal in America today and we need to fix that.
America’s democratic approach is untied within its own boarders, yet the country fights to export democracy over seas. Daniele Archibugi analyzes our approach in doing so in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq in his publishing Can Democracy Be Exported, and claims that “Altogether, the American obsession with exporting democracy via its army has brought about more failures than successes” (Archibugi). However, he later proposes his opinion by stating democracy supporters should intervene once a country’s government and people are in a “fight” and “broken-up” (Archibugi). Otherwise, it becomes much more of a risky and long-term process.
Democracy is thought of by many people with many different opinions, leading to more of a hollow term. Stripping off the many ideologist filters, a democracy is a form in electing the government by empowering the people. Today’s influences, such as the internet, affects the efficiency behind a democratic life. All in all, the overall outcome comes form the equality of the people- an “invitation” to all.
