"Is Democracy on Trial This Year?"

As millions of people have voted, or are going to vote on November 3, our right as individual citizens to democracy is being exercised once again. Yet powers that be, including the Supreme Court, are already questioning which and whose votes will be counted. Many eligible people are being discouraged to carry out their right as citizens, and their free exercise of voting may be disqualified. There is some question concerning whether if our sitting president loses, he will vacate the office when required. There is already movement afloat through the use of an aborted census and other means, such as gerrymandering, to limit or curtail a growing majority of minorities to critically effect who governs in this democracy in the future. It leads to this natural question: “Is democracy on trial this year?”

One way to answer the question is to measure if "minimal standards for a democracy are being met?" Joseph L. Allen writes about these standards in “democracy” in The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics: “Appropriate tests for the presence of democracy are primarily procedural…procedures must be present, such as non-intimidation of voters, freedom of candidates and the media publicly to discuss issues, ascribing the same weight to all persons’ votes, tallying the votes honestly, and permitting the winners to take offer.” (Page 150) These standards for democracy hopefully will be followed not only in this year’s election, but for however long democracy continues to be recognizable in American government. But from a Christian standpoint there are higher standards for maintaining democracy, some of which are being challenged right now. Highest among these are to use the balance of powers to regulate human nature. This balance must be maintained to insure democracy. This is essential to democracy because of a realistic view of human nature. As theologian and ethicist, Reinhold Niebuhr, puts it: "Man's capacity for justice make democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary." ("The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness." excerpted in The Essential Reinhold Niebuhr, ed. by Robert McAfee Brown, 1986, page 160)

The genius of our government is based on the argument of the Federalist Papers to have factions or competing interests in our government to prevent one group of people from dominating another. Theologically speaking, this desirability is based on the flawed human nature of individuals of all parties. Left to ourselves, people do seek their own good over another’s. The Founding Fathers, coming from being ruled by a king, was to balance competing interests through three branches of government—President, Congress, and Supreme Court. The intent was to prevent one power from overcoming the other. The challenge to democracy at the present time is to prevent all three being politicized on the behalf of a stronger executive branch. In the wake of recent events concerning the highest court, this may well be why democracy is on trial this year.

Right now we have the democratic right to exercise our vote for our ruling powers in what we still identify as a democracy. Optimistically, we look for that vote to bring about leadership which respects the constitution with its amendments that increasingly lead all age-qualified people—regardless of gender, race, or creed—to vote. We say it is a sacred right because we believe it is still the best way of governing—that is, to let the people speak. In this election democracy can best be found still in evidence if all people are allowed to speak through their individual right to vote. Let's make everyone's vote count!