A Failed Democracy?

The following entry was inspired by a blog entry on Richard Engel's MSNBC site: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/06/12/1962913.aspx.

Allegedly, Iran's voter turnout was around 70%. Let us suppose, for a moment, that this is true.

According to the 2008 United States Elections Project (http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html), voter turnouts for the federal election ranged from 78.2% (MN) to 50.5% (HI), based upon voting for the highest-elected office. The United States total was 61.7% of the voting population. In 2004, the number (for the United States as a whole) was 60.1%; in 2000, the number was 54.2%. However, the turnout has never breached the 65% threshold, since statistics were gathered back in the '50's. This means that the United States, as a nation, has never voted in the numbers that Iran has.

Why is that Iran -- a nation that politicians villify as "backwards" and "anti-democratic" -- can turn out a better voting percentage than a nation that has long been associated with the "ideals" of "democracy"? Democracy is not merely a set of rights and protections for the power; it is the actual exercise of power by the people to effect national or regional policies. A democratic nation in which the people do not exercise their power is a nation that is run by the Power Elite and special interests; idle tools become instruments of mischief when not guided by the proper persons. Our government has failed to protect the American people not because it is inherently evil or unscrupulous, but because the people have failed to use it as it was intended to be used. We do not hold our government as accountable for its actions as it should be; we do not hold our politicians as accountable for their decisions as they should be.

Is it the people's fault? Unequivocably, no. The failures have come from all sides: (1) the failure to properly guard against the spreading of false information; (2) the failure to properly educate our children to intelligently exercise their right to vote; (3) the failure of those entrusted to keep the nation's best interests in mind; (4) the failure to guard against predation by corporate interests; etc. As Robert Kuttner wrote in The Squandering of America, the problem is a failure of agency: the people's agents have failed to work in their best interests -- from the government world to the corporate world. Regulators have failed to regulate; trustees have failed to faithfully protect shareholders against CEOs. The result: a confused people, unsure of who to trust and of what direction our nation should head in.

As much as health care reform is an important issue, so is the issue of direction with regard to the United States. Our duly-elected President has a tough road ahead.