16 March 2006
Pedantic Majoritarianism
The political climate of technologically advanced countries in North America, Europe, and soon many other societies, like China and India, has progressed beyond the need to define democracy pedantically as electoral majoritarianism. In fact, it may be insistence on that structure that enables well-financed smart campaigns to manipulate the outcomes of national voting.
Moreover, majority rule doesn’t promote global competitiveness. It tends to spread rewards instead of rewarding excellence. Maybe that's ok. But if you believe growth and innovation are important to preserving our way of life, you have to make allowance for entrepreneurship. It's that maverick element that the quirky American system has encouraged.
The course of our government’s policies is more stable than Europe’s, like a heavy ship on the high seas. It cannot be diverted by a no-confidence vote, for example. To use another metaphor, divorce is not an option. Even impeachment leaves the sitting Administration in power.
The Electoral College system for selecting American Presidents, of course, is an artifact of history. It was invented to settle state-to-state rivalries prevalent at the time, and has been amended since. It is imperfect and not appropriate to gubernatorial contests because it reflects the historic regional autonomy of America. The regional roots of our country are still strong, recently illustrated by differences in state abortion and minimum wage laws.
Nevertheless, the Electoral College could be discarded, if only to avoid anomalies like the 2000 election. In any case, it’s not the process of majority election that makes a democracy--it’s the accountability of officials that a democracy achieves and the just policies it forces them to adopt. In today’s world of advanced information technology, it is the responsibility of those who would live in a democratic system to devote their energy and resources to keeping it. This is a tougher challenge than drafting a Constitution was in 1789.
Modern IT has made it necessary constantly to impose the rule of the governed on their officials, if only because it is possible. Otherwise, rule will be imposed by those who have something else to gain from the effort.
The political climate of technologically advanced countries in North America, Europe, and soon many other societies, like China and India, has progressed beyond the need to define democracy pedantically as electoral majoritarianism. In fact, it may be insistence on that structure that enables well-financed smart campaigns to manipulate the outcomes of national voting.
Moreover, majority rule doesn’t promote global competitiveness. It tends to spread rewards instead of rewarding excellence. Maybe that's ok. But if you believe growth and innovation are important to preserving our way of life, you have to make allowance for entrepreneurship. It's that maverick element that the quirky American system has encouraged.
The course of our government’s policies is more stable than Europe’s, like a heavy ship on the high seas. It cannot be diverted by a no-confidence vote, for example. To use another metaphor, divorce is not an option. Even impeachment leaves the sitting Administration in power.
The Electoral College system for selecting American Presidents, of course, is an artifact of history. It was invented to settle state-to-state rivalries prevalent at the time, and has been amended since. It is imperfect and not appropriate to gubernatorial contests because it reflects the historic regional autonomy of America. The regional roots of our country are still strong, recently illustrated by differences in state abortion and minimum wage laws.
Nevertheless, the Electoral College could be discarded, if only to avoid anomalies like the 2000 election. In any case, it’s not the process of majority election that makes a democracy--it’s the accountability of officials that a democracy achieves and the just policies it forces them to adopt. In today’s world of advanced information technology, it is the responsibility of those who would live in a democratic system to devote their energy and resources to keeping it. This is a tougher challenge than drafting a Constitution was in 1789.
Modern IT has made it necessary constantly to impose the rule of the governed on their officials, if only because it is possible. Otherwise, rule will be imposed by those who have something else to gain from the effort.
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