Sad State of Modern Democracies

Appearances Matter

Whether consuming social media posts, YouTube videos, interviews, or polls, it appears that most Americans view their government as a black hole where a third or more of their paychecks disappear; ineffective at solving the problems that matter most and even detrimental to what it means to be an American.

This opaque view of the state is symptomatic of an ineffective democracy, rather than a negative reflection on the citizens. We have a government offering lip service to the people with unfilled promises and no accountability.

The Fantasy

Technically, the average American today can become the President, member of Congress, or Supreme Court Justice, and how we love to tell children how amazing this country is, with its democracy and freedom for all, where anyone can make it to the top. Or where we point to the lucky few who rise up from the bottom to actually build an exceptional life, and lie to ourselves that “you too can do that if you only work hard!”

Every generation dreams that if they go to school, work hard, and keep their head down, they will someday have a dependable job, a home to call their own, and 2.1 children that will be well provided for and someday go on to live an even better life than they had.

Reality Check

This dream ended with the baby boomers in the 1950’s, and is now only a myth. Every generation since has ended up worse off than their parents before. This is no call to revert back to the way things were 75 years ago, because this was not caused by changing social dynamics. Rather, the baby boomers themselves have inadvertently held back subsequent generations through the massive accumulation of wealth and consolidation of power.

The baby boomers have molded the government of today into an apparatus that reinforces their wealth and power, and they have done this in a number of ways:

• Wealthy donors fund the campaigns of agreeable representatives to ensure those representatives get reelected (big money and establishment players always back the incumbents because it’s not about change, it’s about the status quo).
• In exchange, these representatives now pass or block legislation in the best interest of their big donors. Naturally this approach reinforces the machinery that allows the rich to increase their wealth, pay less taxes, and run their corporations as they wish without interference and with little government oversight. It also explains the perpetual wars (someone's getting richer making those weapons) and our unpopular relationships with foreign countries.
• Because the incumbents work for the donors and not the people, there are several mechanisms they employ to ensure they get reelected:
  • Their wealthy donors provide the incumbents with enough money to outspend any opposition.
  • These political elites use the government to guarantee their seats are safe through gerrymandering and voter suppression.
  • They gaslight and distract their voters.
    • They campaign on the platform that they are the only ones that can make the change the voters want.
    • They focus on fringe social issues and fighting “the other side” to keep the focus away from their lack of performance for the people.
  • The two parties move further to the middle and become indistinguishable, so voting for one versus the other has little effect on the system as a whole.
• Through secret and/or exclusive events, the wealthy and political elites appear to be colluding with the courts to back these moves.
• With the recent Supreme Court rulings turning back many decades of precedent that protected voter rights, limited excessive and unaccountable donations, checked executive power, and controlled corporate consolidation, among other apparent disingenuous decisions, some justices appear to be in league with Washington and wealthy elites in exchange for backing the court’s wishes to regress social, workplace, and environmental progress made over the last 75 years or more.
• The wealthy, using their connections to Washington, have been allowed to consolidate their media holdings, limiting the free press and exposure of these tactics and other anti-democratic efforts.
• Elected leaders have removed independent watch dogs and other checks on their power and now blatantly attack free speech and oppositional media reports as part of their core duties.

Through these cumulative efforts the wealthy, political, and court elites deceive and gaslight the voters, essentially convincing the citizens to vote against their own interests. This has led the nation down a path where today's political elites are no longer beholden to their voters, donors run businesses with little government oversight or protections for the citizens, and courts have free reign to affect societal norms based on their preferences.

It’s always about money and power, but this isn’t to say that the baby boomers have done something wrong. In fact, it could be argued that most people, given these opportunities, would also do the same. Everyone thinks they know best, and if given the power and money, they would also mold the country the way they think is best.

It’s easy to be critical of these people and practices and pretend that we would not also take advantage of a system to ensure our wealth and power if we could. Ultimately all these outcomes come down to human nature and a government ill-equipped to oppose these efforts. But it’s important to understand that this is why nothing will ever change through the existing political system, and all of this is critical to keep in mind when considering something better.

There Will Be No Change

In our modern world the average citizen in a democratic republic only has one tool to affect their government, and that is a single vote. Yes, technically there’s representation and participation, but realistically it’s one vote every few years out of a pool of millions, and then we question why so many never cast a vote? And that is without taking into account the current attacks on free and fair elections through voter manipulation, gerrymandering, and all the other tactics that chip away at the power underlying this core democratic tool.

This leads to a vicious cycle, where we care less about voting because we see how little our votes count, so elections get easier and easier to manipulate, which makes our government less responsive to the real needs of the citizens, and the cycle continues. The richest buy influence, and then use that influence to mold the world they way they see fit and in their best interests, and, most critically, to keep getting richer and more powerful.

But as wealth inequality increases, government oversight decreases, the citizens’ mental and physical welfare declines, and the courts steer us back into the past, more and more people are looking for real solutions.

Promising candidates rise up, and helpful laws are proposed, but there is no possibility of change from within. No representative could ever make the necessary changes we all hope for because our government was intentionally built to mute the fringe voices. The current system can rebuff a handful of opposition candidates while the majority of representatives are bought and paid for. Candidates can win elections on small donations alone with believable promises of real change, but the power has already been consolidated outside their hands.

Regardless of their superficial claims, the two parties are nearly identical, and the system in place forces the voters to either throw away their vote on someone they really believe in yet is not backed by a major party, or they can vote for the least of the worst mainstream candidates. Regardless of that decision, our votes are nearly meaningless.

At a minimum we expect the minority party to be checking this corruption and power grab on behalf of the people they represent, but instead they sit back and think of this harm to the nation as an opportunity to take back power for themselves in the future.

In Name Only

We have become a nation for the rich and powerful, and a democracy in name only. The elites are shaping this country into the vision that they want, and damn democracy or the constitution or precedence, if that’s what it takes. They truly seem to believe that they, the wealthy and powerful, know best, the ends justify the means, and we citizens are just along for the ride. It’s always been this way, because the Founding Fathers never trusted citizens with a real say, but now it’s worn proudly by those with power.

We’re currently living through the worst part of this timeline, where the wealthy and powerful elites have the means and motivation to keep the citizens fighting each other so no one looks up. And that might be the most frustrating part, that instead of becoming enraged about this unfair influence and corruption of our government, the average citizen instead points fingers at the less fortunate who cannot work, those that think differently, or have different accents. We point our fingers at our fellow neighbors as the problem, instead of the ones in power and those that control the powerful; everyone that is actually accountable.

We spend our lives working for this unattainable dream, and after the government takes its cut, those with the wealth and influence to run the most powerful corporations can count on the rest of us to voluntarily spend whatever’s left over of our paycheck on their subscription fees, auto loans, high interest credit cards, and subprime mortgage loans. That keeps us entertained and pacified with new shiny things, and the media monopolies tell us to hate the other side. There’s no place in this unhealthy symbiosis for anyone but the political elites and the wealthiest to get ahead, so it’s no wonder that each generation is getting further and further behind.

Not Giving Up

So the question is no longer how do we fix the United States, but rather how could we do this better if we started over? Knowing what we now know about how people in positions of power will cling to that power and do everything they can to reinforce that power, how do we create a government where those elected to lead the nation are checked by so many other forces that it’s impossible for any one person, small group, or nefarious cabal to take that power away from the people (because there will always be this need to place great power in the hands of a few when quick decisions are needed to manage national interests for a large and diverse population)? How do we ensure that no elected leader can ever abuse their position? How do we ensure that corporations and the rich never get a foothold in the government through donations, influence, and favors? How do we do all this without relying on norms and hope to keep our elected leaders in line, but rather have solid legal mechanisms to enforce this? And how do we keep this government so completely transparent that the media and citizens can always provide an additional and effortless final check?

In essence, how do we remove politicians and politics from government?

Hinting At Something Else

There is a better way, and it’s not too late yet. The first step down a better path requires the realization of a simple fact:

The top 1%, even with all their aggregated wealth, are no equal to the bottom 99%. They might have the money and influence, but they do not have the vast majorities’ potential. But we must stop fighting ourselves, because divided and bickering we are never going to remake this world in a more equitable and sustainable way.

With that said, please understand that we, as the vast majority, do not need to agree on everything. All together, we may agree on little, but that's okay because there is an answer for this. For now all we need to focus on is that this system is working against us instead of for us, and what we are going to do about it collectively.

The right path forward promises much, but taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor is not one of them. That might be an invigorating rallying cry, but doesn’t lend itself to the start of an effective social construct. There’s a way for the rich to keep their wealth while everyone else moves up. There is a way to fundamentally change the status quo, without communism or facism, anarchy, violence, or revolution. There’s a path forward, but it will take unity by the people, open communication, and a clear and common purpose towards this better thing.

There is real waste in the current system, and it defines our democracies. It’s the cornerstone of democracies that represent large populations, because hundreds of years ago the enlightened thinkers that envisioned this great country still couldn’t imagine a world so big and small at the same time. They convinced themselves that a slow, inefficient democracy in the hands of rich white men was the best idea.

That lack of foresight directly led to the worst iterations of democracy today. Instead of lifting up the most effective leader, elections are a popularity contest and enforce servitude to wealthy and powerful donors. Decision by committee is inefficient and leads to expensive and useless compromises rather than effective leadership. The illusion of representation leaves politicians pandering to their donors with the balance of their attention devoted to pet projects back home.

The inefficiencies go on and on, with no redeeming qualities except a nation’s claim of being a democracy. That claim is an expensive price to pay for poor leadership, increasing wealth inequality, corporations in control, and career ruling elites in safe districts that should have been voted out in competitive elections decades ago.

What Could Be

In a highly functional democracy, the people would have clear expectations of their government, which would be effectively communicated and delivered upon. In exchange, the citizens’ responsibilities to the government would be understood and eagerly offered. In fact, the population would not see themselves apart from the government, because they would truly be the government.

This is not where we are at in America, but it is the promise and pride of the Liminal State.

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