Democracy is resilient

The resilience of Democracy is often surprising. At a time when many are bewailing the demise of democracy in the United States, we continue to see "new shoots" growing on rocky ground. For instance, take the recent referendum in Ohio over changes to the Ohio Constitution. Voters rather overwhelmingly voted to keep their present ability to change the Constitution by a referenda vote of 50% plus one. To understand this as a vote for democracy, think of the old childhood game of pounding a peg into the top of a box. For every peg you manage to "destroy" another emerges. At present in Ohio, as in many states, decision-making political bodies are increasingly less democratic. Gerrymandering has weakened democracy in the State legislature. The Electoral College constrains the popular election of the President. Political parties are, for many reasons, led by factions that are out of step with the general membership. The pegs of democracy have received a hard pounding. The "peg" of referenda has "popped up." And in this case, has resisted being pounded down. My point is that people do want democracy and they can understand threats to democracy at a grassroots level. It is understandable that minorities want to see limits placed on majority government. In some cases, most of us applaud such Constitutional constraints as the Bill of Rights and the Civil War Amendments. But such rights are limited and such limitations are ultimately subject to the majority will when and if it is expressed. One way of seeing the ebb and flow of political power over the course of American history, is to focus on the battles between relatively inarticulate and less organized demands of majorities and the interests of specific minorities. Many of us find ourselves on both sides in these struggles. We are, after all, a majority of minorities, and a majority made up of minorities will always lean toward majority acceptance of some, but not all minority interests. I think most of us prefer a government that represents a tension between these two principles, majority rule and minority rights. And the pendulum swings. Today I think I see a resurgence of support for the democratic principle as many see majority rule threatened. Many understand that economic minorities have been very successful in using law and the enforcement of law for their own purposes. One can hope, however, that this is not at the same time a move away from respect for protection of minority rights: religious, cultural and political. John Bing is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at Heidelberg University and his twice weekly bog is available at johnb0c.substack.com.