They tell us our lives come at a pivotal crossroads in the history of our country and world,… They tell us our lives come at a pivotal crossroads in the history of our country and world, that the decisions we make now will forever impact the direction civilization itself takes. They tell us that, in this election circus that flagrantly harasses us whenever possible, our vote is our voice, and our voices have never before been so significant.

Voting is typically the climax of citizen participation in this country, but it is assuredly not the foundational component of democracy. Our version of representative democracy (an overtly paradoxical term) makes us, according to classical definitions, a republic. Direct democracy — genuine democracy in its purest form — entails active citizen participation in all legislative and executive processes. Although there are extremely limited examples of direct democracy within the realm of American politics, most legislative and certainly all executive authority is possessed by a select few who are either elected or appointed.

It is exceptionally distressing to observe the degree to which our society transforms politics into a sporting event. Assuming that it can be simplified to a competition between two opposing factions, we pick our team and, watching from the sidelines, passively cheer it on.

Life would be carefree if supporting one of the two corporate-war parties in this country could grant us the freedom we covet. Unfortunately, there are real, significant problems facing human civilization, regardless of whether they are explicitly apparent in our own lives. If we take a hands-off approach to problem solving by blindly vesting faith in elected representatives, we get a hands-off system of hierarchy that serves those who possess power within it.

The great obstacle to authentic American democracy is neither this country’s flawed voting scheme, with its elitist Electoral College fail-safe, nor its discriminatory two-party system. It is our own complacence as citizens, which, in the end, renders us willingly ineffectual within the power structure that governs our lives. If we never stop to critically assess the reality of our current role in politics — if we never come to realize how we impede real democracy by withdrawing ourselves from decision-making processes — then our society itself will cease to evolve.

George Stamets

Political Science

Sophomore