Today I’d like to discuss something we all share - something so pervasive that it’s easy to forget that a few hundred years ago it hardly existed at all: Democracy. At least in America, democracy seems to be the only constant that our intensely partisan government can agree on. Nothing else is free from scrutiny: We’ve questioned the definition of marriage, the rights of embryos to live, and even the ethics behind our genetic code. Amidst all this turmoil, democracy has managed to remain the most unassailable concept in our nation. However, the time has come for us to take democracy, the most sacred of our institutions, off of its dusty pedestal. If America’s problems are ever to be resolved, we must first evaluate and refine an ideology which …show more content…
Historically, people have turned to democracy for liberation from the oppression of concentrated power. When the burden brought on by the greed and corruption of the elite has drowned out the voice of the common people, democracy takes root and flourishes; after all, the fundamental appeal of democracy lies in the ability of citizens to shape their own future. So what happens when our own cherished democracy by the people and for the people ceases to act according to the interests of the people? The answer is all around you. Instead of providing a connection between the people and those who govern them, our democracy has only hidden the alarming discrepancy between public opinion and government action by allowing us the “power” of the vote. As Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern professor Benjamin Page have discovered, our statistical impact on the government is effectively nothing: Over the past few decades, almost all influence on our government has come from the preferences of economic elites and organized interest groups who steer the country regardless of the desires of most voters (Lichtman). For those who are in the elite tier of American society, democracy is working seamlessly and effortlessly, as it should. And for the rest of us who eagerly watch the presidential debates, regularly read the news, and proudly cast in our votes? Well, for us, democracy hardly