Seattle Press on Line - Democracy and Civic Trust

Seattle Press guest editorial

Democracy and Civic Trust

By Sandy M. Mitchell

Feb 14, 2002 -- Curt Firestone's article "Recapturing Democracy," is an excellent conversation-starter on probably the most important question the people of this country need to address: "Is the United States a democracy if the majority of people do not vote?" That question provokes from me a resounding "NO!" And I think it's a disgrace that this is so.

But I want to deepen the conversation by building on some of Firestone's ideas. His article suggests that 75 percent of eligible Americans don't vote. This leaves the selection process up to a mere 25 percent of eligible voters, who he points out tend to be older people who are higher in economic class than those who don't vote. Which obviously means that those who are disadvantaged, and whom we might expect to fight for public programs that might help them achieve greater economic stability, don't believe that it's worth making any real effort to try to change the current political reality.

The widespread lack of trust in our society that this indicates is something I find very disturbing. Firestone lists six things we need to have in place, or at least encourage, if we are to regain the people's lost faith in our political process. The sixth on his list is "A renewed sense of pride in our country that makes electoral involvement a way of life."

While I agree with him in a general way that we need "a renewed sense of pride in our country," I would suggest that we need to base that pride on something much more substantial than the knee-jerk jingoism our current patriotism seems rooted in. For today's patriotism seems to be partly a reaction to decades of lies and misinformation about the true nature of American history. For evidence I point to the New McCarthyism currently being fronted by Lynne Cheney (wife of Dick Cheney) and Al Gore's former running mate Joe Lieberman. In the guise of defending America, they are labeling as "unpatriotic" any college professor who dares to question the policies of the Bush administration. They are creating the kind of witch-hunt that wants to deny us our constitutional right to free speech.

Noam Chomsky reminds us that how we choose to define "our country" is important: Do we define it as a political system, or do we define it as the people who live here? I choose the latter definition, and reserve my loyalty for the people--particularly those whom the political system is not serving well. Unfortunately, that's most of the people.

Consider this: The cost of the actual functioning of government at every level is borne by taxes paid by individual citizens, you and I. Corporations pay only a small percentage of the cost of government. But because they pay large sums for the cost of political campaigns in the form of contributions, corporations like Enron--and it is only one example--get to call the shots when policy is written. In fact, corporations often write the policy, and then get the elected officials to sign off on it. To paraphrase an old C&W song: "Corporations get the gold mine while we get the shaft." Those corporate "campaign contributions" are essentially bribes, and the Enron scandal is revealing just how blatant the bribes are.

The most obvious way Bush's friends are milking the public is through our gas tanks: many of them are oil men reaping profits by his opposition to renewable energy. But big oil is just one of a long list of industries that are feeding at the public trough. Can you say, "mandatory testing of schoolchildren?" Well, Harold McGraw, CEO of McGraw-Hill publishers can. He's a longtime friend of the Bush family and will share in the profits of the estimated $2.7 to $7 billion we'll be spending annually on testing--and by the way, ask a few teachers what they think of mandatory testing.

And let's not forget all the other ways the Bush government has demonstrated its loyalty to the corporations that got Mr. Bush appointed to his position. What's Bush's answer to the post-September 11 economic downturn? Why, tax breaks for the rich, even including rebates for corporations that haven't paid any taxes. And $15 billion bailouts for airline executives, while 100,000 airline workers are laid off. Every one of these measures is further destroying public faith in the political process, and we had better wake up and start talking to each other about what we can do to revive our rapidly failing democracy.

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