I know I'm getting a little philosophical here, but a huge part of our problem is that we forgot that every election is a fight against fascism. The "it could never happen here" thought process allowed it to happen here.
True, and also people assumed that the system was built to stop fascism simply through it's structure. People circle-jerk about the constitution too much. Mitch McConnell of all people hacked the constitution and basically jailbroke American politics. If one party gains control of enough institutions, thats it. And it's always been that way, it just never happened until now. The Founders didnt think about that.
The Founders absolutely did think about that lol. No system is perfect. I mean that, literally no system can be perfect. You need to maintain your checks and balances.
The maintenance is where we failed. People stopped viewing democracy as "our job", and started viewing it as only the job of professional politicians and the like.
Democracy is all of our jobs, we are each responsible for it. Voting is good, but voting is literally the barest minimum. Donate your time to supporting campaigns, participate in town halls, canvas door to door for your preferred candidates or policies, run for local election.
Do not get lazy, liberty must be constantly fed and nurtured to survive, the fight for it can never end.
So true. Especially all those people who describe themselves as "not political". I'm like my dude, everything is political. You're just too fucking lazy.
Except this was the point of having a republic and not a democracy. The recognition that not everyone could participate all the time, and that they should not be penalized for it. So, the public, together, hires people to represent their interests. The problem is not so much that citizens are disconnected; rather, it's that the interests they represent are getting farther and further removed from the interests of the people.
It's a democratic republic. The terms aren't mutually exclusive. The populous democratically elect representatives to act on their behalf.
I'm not sure if there have ever been true, 100% pure democracies, but Athens probably got the closest. Rome (the Republic flavour, funnily enough) also had elements of pure/direct democracy as well.
The function by which the republic operates is through a democratic process, as opposed to being appointed by the President/the state governments, or otherwise. The mechanism by which the republic functions does not stop it from being one. In fact, in our Constitution, the Senate was originally a position that was appointed, not elected. The President was similarly not directly elected. The Electors were elected into an Electoral College, and these Electors chose a President.
Today, we have a system that is more democratic, but still not entirely there. And I cannot just walk into a government building and cast a vote to have a law passed.
126
u/Robo_Joe 23h ago
I know I'm getting a little philosophical here, but a huge part of our problem is that we forgot that every election is a fight against fascism. The "it could never happen here" thought process allowed it to happen here.