An Abysmal Run Of The Experiment

Anyone who thinks that democracy is an ideal to be achieved is far more inane than you have ever imagined them to be. Democracy is a popular model of political governance out of the many possible competing models. Arguably a better model or rather a more "fair" model. Even so, it's just a model. More importantly, it is not a finished product created by an ingenious social engineer but an experiment in the running. And that's how we should treat it - an experiment in the running. Probably one of the longest-running, most expensive, collaborative, or at times coercive global experiments much before the Large Hadron Collider or the LIGO.

This treatment is much different than the one that you across the world are taught in schools. As kids, you are often taught to idolize democracy. Not only is it wrong but it's also harmful for two related reasons. First, if you idolize something, there is no way that you will be able to generate awareness for criticizing it, and hence you won't ever be equipped to improve it. Second, as you grow into an adult, rather than engaging in brainstorming, a lot of people check out. The disappointment of reality is too severe to fight as the gap between what is described in the textbooks and what you see in the news becomes glaring by the day. Just like we need to de-stigmatize certain issues, it is vital to de-glamorize others, democracy is one of them.

This is however a borrowed sentiment. In fact, Plato in The Republic described democracy as only a transient state of a regime that ascends from oligarchy and might one day turn into tyranny. Plato's democratic man is intoxicated by unending materialistic desires and has self-destructive levels of indiscipline. A bit stray from this grim pontification but along similar lines, Socrates had a much more critical approach. Socrates believed that voting in an election is a skill to be taught, developed, and tested. A skill by its very nature cannot be a right given equally to everyone. Between the leader chosen by an informed defective electorate and a wise philosopher-king (as Plato put it), it's more likely that the former would do poorly towards their people, inadvertently or not. The current shape of US democracy is a testament to the Socratic nightmare. The followers of a single man stormed a public office of the highest order, chanted to hang the US Vice President, and killed police officers on duty. Whether we like it or not all these are voters under the democratic setup and when they felt their misguided voice wasn't heard, they lifted their arms. At this point, it no longer matters if the leader is acting under the pressure of the supporters or if the supporters are truly inspired by the leader. It's just a malfunctioned system.

While those who are ignorant about global politics might blame a certain person or party for the ongoing abruptions in the US democracy, others should know better. A popular democratic vote leaning towards people perceived as dangerous, or yet worse, incapable to lead nations is a global problem. May it be the controversial Brexit vote or the recurring spontaneous nationwide cross-issue Indian protests or the burning Amazon, many severe glitches are occurring more frequently all over. The problems faced by US democracy are just the beginning of what others might and will face. Imagine you are running an experiment and you have a bad sample. You might discard it and continue with others. Then you see another and another. At this point, you might want to reconsider the experiment itself. Reconsidering the experiment does not mean abandoning it or shutting it down but examining or auditing what's going wrong.

Politico-philosophical scrutiny of the democratic experiment is long overdue. And it begins by asking why should voting be a right. Should all adults have it? Should all adults have it equally? Why should only adults have it or a corollary, what makes an 18-years old eligible but a 16-years old? If it's not taken as a right but as responsibility, what are our other social systems - from stock markets to news to social media platforms, doing to inculcate (or hamper) that responsibility? If it's a skill, how are our education systems preparing us for it? Are there alternatives from the old playbook that we should try again? Are there other newer alternatives to the democratic form of governance? Why have we settled on this experiment? What would we like the next big experiment to be?