Chaviess' blog: Elections

What would our democratic system be like without elections? I dought anyone has ever stopped to consider that thought. Athens political system is a beacon for American democracy. However their ways were not as democratic as history leads us to believe. Although white men could vote, women, and slaves were excluded from this democratic right. The Athenians also never had the intent for an ordinary citizen to ever hold office, but they did have to right to choose, from aristoi. Hudson argues that the difference in ancient Greek mentality, and modern mentality, comes from the form of representation the systems used. Athenians used a direct democracy seen in the assembly of all citizens, which directly illustrated the concerns of the people. The Assembly had the responsibility to debate, and decide public policies. The officials that were elected into offices in Athens, did not actually do any policy making, they simply acted out of the will of the people. The common citizen could speak in the forum, and had their concerns heard and rule directly. Modern democracy is vastly different because the public officials have a different role in democracy. The responsibility for decision making is shared between the public officials and the public, which makes the right to vote more important in today’s democracy. Unlike the Athenians, modern representatives posses actual policy making power. “Election is the mechanism that makes the system democratic-that is, it assures rule by the people.”(180, Hudson). To maintain a democratic government it is crucial that every individual’s voice is heard, and vote is counted. It is the American citizen’s obligation to vote and keep democracy as a representative of the people. Because votes are important, it in turn makes elections important. The United States could not do a direct democracy because of the size of society. Without elections officials would be more susceptible to the influence of a single person. However representative democracy does leave more room for discrepancies between the will of the people, and the will of the representative. “The equal right to vote alone cannot provide equal representation: it must be exercised through an election process that provides meaningful choices and channels for translating voters into the expression of political influence”(183, Hudson).
It is during the campaign that the Athenian way of direct democracy is emulated. This is the time when the common man has the opportunity to go to the microphone, and ask the candidate how they intend put his constituent’s concerns into action. They also allow the voter to direct the topic of discussion to better illustrate the candidate’s beliefs in subjects important to the voters. Hudson argues that there are three things essential to creating a truly democratic election. The first being equal representation for everyone. The ability to have a clear choice between candidates is also vital to democracy. The second necessity is to have citizens discuss and deliberate public policies since modern democracy is not direct. By voicing your stance on public policies, those decisions made should be put into action after the election, which gives citizens control of government. However, Hudson feels that many of this aspect of maintaining democracy have been tarnished. Institutions such as special interest groups, political action committees, large corporations, and wealthy individuals have created more competition and made election unrepresentative by giving support and money, in return for favors. The Electoral College system also increases the level of unrepresentation. Should the Electoral College was put into action by the founding fathers, when they feared rule by the masses. Many people feel the Electoral College is outdated, and should be reformed or disbanded all together. Campaigns have also become less focused on politics. Deliberation has become useless with the competition of loud entertainment and media coverage, and elections have morphed into something resembling the MTV awards show, with P. Diddy, and the Dixie Chicks as the guests. Many people believe this is an attempt to gloss over the important issues until Election Day. This is also a disservice to the voters, because even if they are having fun bobbing their head’s to the Dixie Chick’s “Cowboy Take me Away,” they forget to ask the candidate’s beliefs on Medicare, or education so when election day comes around, they still have no clue if the candidate supports their concerns. Election outcomes have also become less important because they do not affect policies as much as they should. Policies are made largely in the beauacracies, courts, and lobbying firms. “Although the United States satisfies well the simple criterion of selection millions of public officials through competitive election, the more demanding criteria of truly democratic elections are far from being achieved. In the United States, elections have become a major challenge to our democracy, rather than an indicator of it”(181 Hudson).
Whether elections have ruined democracy is a personal opinion. Elections have gone farther from the path of true democracy. It is rare that issues that actually effect the American people are discussed in depth, and when question are asked, politions manage to not answer the questions. In recent elections more and more energy has been put into unimportant things like, which celebrity is supporting who, and which politician has a pregnant, or alcoholic daughter. However, I believe that the subject matter of the campaign mirror the interests of the voters, and the United States is a nation of people who care more about the superficial issues. So until the interests of the common American changes, elections will always be geared to suit them, which means having to hear about how much money the candidate spent on shopping, instead of what they plan to do to fix the economy.

-Chaviess (posted by Ariella)