Fast forward to the world today. Does true democracy exist? Again, the definition of a democracy is governance by all people for the benefit of all people. As Abraham Lincoln aptly described it, “of the people, for the people, and by the people.” The purest form of democracy today can be found in the governance of small groups, such as New England town meetings—wherein all citizens gather, discuss issues (thereby informing each other), and then all vote.
When a populace grows larger than a few dozen people, however, direct democratic participation is not feasible. It is far too cumbersome and time-consuming to assemble everyone and to allow all views to be expressed. So most democratic states today practice a form of representative democracy—wherein individual citizens are elected to represent their constituency. The representatives then gather, to discuss and vote on behalf of their electors.
This form of governance, however, is often not a true democracy in practice, for several reasons. The first reason is that elections are often not fair and balanced—thus the people's representatives often do not actually act on behalf of all of their constituents. This situation can occur when voting restrictions prevent some people, such as the poor or minority citizens, from voting.
A second reason is that, although representative democracy should be open to any citizen choosing to run for office, it usually is not; only those with the necessary finances and connections are able to mount a campaign. Thirdly, while a true democracy requires representatives to have term limits, actual democracies often operate more like aristocracies, in that those in control attempt to maintain their positions and power indefinitely.
But possibly the greatest shortcoming of present-day democracies that fall short of the goal is that citizens are not well informed, so even if they can vote, they often do so with a misguided understanding. Uninformed and misinformed citizens can be dangerous. This was a fundamental concern of ancient Athenians. They did not trust common people to understand the complexities of governance. Only those who had vested interests in society, and who were experienced and were educated, should be allowed to participate, they maintained. Women and enslaved people did not qualify. Thus, although Athens is regarded as the West's first practicing democracy, it was not a case of all people having a voice in managing the affairs of state. It was not an authentic democracy.
Turning to the USA—regarded by many (especially its citizens and officials) as the modern world's most enduring and valid democracy: How does my country rate, by Aristotle's classification, as a democratic society? The US Constitution begins with the words “We the people...” and continues, to imply that this government is established for the purpose of ensuring that its citizens are in control of their political and economic destiny.
Those are noble intentions, but two major concerns guided the efforts of the founders of the US Constitution, that compromised their ability to form a true democracy: (1) a tyrant like King George III must be blocked from unilateral and absolute control and (2) commoners could not be trusted with the reins of power. (They shared that second concern with the ancient Athenians.)
Going back to Aristotle's three forms of regime that he saw as having the welfare of the people as top priority, the American founding fathers were determined to avoid forging a tyranny (rule of one), as well as a real democracy (rule of the many); the latter because they distrusted the ability of commoners to govern. Thus, they established a constitution and a governmental methodology that actually is a blend of autocracy and democracy. Those founders were, after all, well-to-do, propertied, and educated white men (virtually no women.) They even fancied themselves as aristocrats—people who occupied an upper class position, and they expected to remain in that elevated position.
As a result, the US Constitution and America's subsequent implementation of its government created a flawed democracy. The founders did a pretty good job of avoiding a tyrant, but also shut out the voices and participation of over half of its citizens. Their fear of the “tyranny of the masses” was very strong.
Next time, more on US democracy…
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