A Crisis of Democracy: Americans Don’t Vote

There seems to be broad agreement – both on the left and the right – that the US faces a crisis of democracy. Americans simply don’t vote. Turn-out for off year elections averages between 25-33% of registered voters. In presidential years officials are thrilled to get a turn out of over 50%. Remember we are talking about registered voters here. And half of eligible adults simply don’t register. Which means somewhere between 25 and 30 percent of potential voters are choosing the elected officials who run the most powerful country in the world.

Poll after poll shows that the people who don’t vote are under under thirty, live below the poverty line and/or represent disenfranchised minorities – for the obvious reason that they rarely see the middle aged white men in suits who run for office acting in their interests. In 2008 Obama convinced a large number of these historic non-voters that he could and would represent their interests – as well as capturing a large anti-war protest vote (people forget it was mainly opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that made George  Bush the most unpopular president in American history).

The Stalemate in Federal Governance

Now Obama’s own popularity is sinking fast, largely based to his failure to deliver on campaign promises to end the wars in the Middle East, close Guantanamo and deliver meaningful banking reform and economic stimulus legislation. This, in turn, is blamed on an impasse with Senate Republicans – owing to archaic filibuster rules that enable a minority party with more than 40 Senate seats to prevent passage of legislation they oppose. (I am very suspicious whether this is the real reason – I can remember imploring Democrats to block a number of really bad laws and judicial appointments initiated by the Bush administration – for some reason the Democrats don’t seem to know how to filibuster – maybe they should take lessons from the Republicans).

According to mainstream media pundits, the main reason for Obama’s impasse in Congress is that we are a deeply divided nation. The problem is that some of us live in red states and some in blue ones. There is really nothing that can be done about it. This is just the way things are. If you happen to be a Republican living in a blue state or a Democrat living in a red state, it’s just tough luck. If you want a voice in government, you will just have to move to another state – or simply not vote, since your vote doesn’t count.

Some of Us Like Other Colors (Such As Green)

I myself don’t buy the notion that the US is a deeply divided nation – or that American voters fall into two totally separate camps. I don’t believe Americans are substantially different from citizens of other western democracies in having a broad range of views on different political issues. I myself don’t find myself agreeing with Republicans or Democrats on everything. Though I am socially progressive, in that I favour abortion and gay rights, I am also a fiscal conservative and agree with right wing libertarians about the need to reduce the soaring US deficit and to implement major banking reforms that include closer regulation of the Federal Reserve.

The US seems have reached this crisis of democracy (in which declining voter turn-out produces a series of divided or minority governments incapable of passing legislation) compared to other parts of the world. Most western democracies (with the UK and Canada also being notable exceptions) seem to have got to this place in the mid to late nineties – and were able to substantially increase voter turn-out (and overall legislative efficiency) through a series of electoral reforms that encouraged the active participation of third parties in government. The replacement of “winner takes all” voting systems with some form of “proportional representation” is one important reform that enabled this transformation to take place. And not surprisingly instantly improved voter turn-out. There are a number of other simple electoral reforms (including postal ballots and scheduling of elections on weekends or holidays) that have also greatly improved voter participation in other countries.

Choosing Electoral Reform Over Violence

I find the increasing Patriot and Tea Party rhetoric calling for violence and calls by the Democrats for even more government repression (including emergency shut down of the Internet – please) equally troubling. A far better solution is serious public dialogue about appalling voter turn-out and badly needed electoral reforms.

To be continued

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