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Democratic deficit depends on your line of sight

By Mark Christensen - posted Wednesday, 31 October 2012


An array of political pundits, both here and in America, continue to lament the dysfunctional state of modern democracy. It is lost in itself, says the ABC's Jonathan Green, unable to take us beyond the barriers of self interest to a "mutually appreciative, consensual culture of deep shared purpose".

While true enough, it's a shame so few go on to establish why.

Politics commends us to a social contract, one based on the belief a champion team is superior to a team of champions. But it also binds us to a higher truth. In the end, the cooperation that makes a community special must come from the individual. Political leaders can only inspire.

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Like most, Green reluctantly acknowledges politics is merely a pathway or a means, that democracy can't go all the way and save us by engineering the perfect society. Yet, like most, he is also clearly distressed it hasn't produced a satisfying end.

The liberal media are loathed to unpack this conflict, preferring emotive pleas for balance and moderation over simple logic.

It's an unambiguous choice. Either one trusts people to see the value of a champion team, or one invests faith in the ability of mediating institutions to make it happen. The former eschews expectation and judgement, and transcends doctrine, since the freely-given commitment must come from the heart, not the head. On the other hand, a frustrated desire for others to do the right thing, is proof of one putting system and ideology before personal responsibility.

The media consistently muddies the issue by demonising right-wing extremists rather than objectively examining the root cause of partisan paralysis.

Earlier this year, the Southern Baptist owners of Chick-fil-A restaurants were embroiled in controversy for explicitly opposing gay marriage.

So-called progressive politicians across America were incensed. The mayor of Boston demanded the fast food chain "open up their policies", a Chicago alderman said a second store would be conditional upon working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups, while Philadelphia City Council member James F. Kenney wrote to the CEO, Dan Cathy, suggesting he should "take a hike and take your intolerance with you". Food personality Mark Bittman Twittered the following: "Speaking of pigs, the VP of PR for Chick-fil-A dropped dead of a heart attack the week after the chain's latest homophobia/anti-gay marriage scandal."

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Few politicians or commentators look here for answers as to why democracy is broken.

Isn't attacking Christians for moralising a form of moralising itself? Cathy and many of his countrymen may be bigoted and untrusting of themselves, so much so that they place their hope in the imagined certainties and redeeming powers of organised religion. But two wrongs don't a right make. Illiberal liberals, sneering, melodramatic intellectuals who take umbrage at uncultured types for holding back humanity, substitute unprocessed rage for strategic thought. Who in their right mind believes using democracy to punish heretics – just as the church once did – could ever achieve a lasting civility?

Barack Obama was elected to heal this rift. Not by introducing universal healthcare, closing Gitmo or implementing some novel government program. The great hope was for him to continue to rise above the political structure. For this freedom, high-mindedness and moral clarity to finally initiate an adult conversation about the efficacy of politics.

Why do we embrace democracy? Americans got behind it because they didn't want a regime controlled by the clergy or monarchy. But a counter-offensive wasn't sufficient. Progress requires conviction in positive concepts, something real and deliverable, not Jeffersonian ironies regarding self-evident truth and inalienable human rights. Like the rest of us, America has been pursuing its dreams of liberty, justice and happiness on the deluded proviso the supporting system would eventually bring them to fruition.

Instead of disabusing the nation of its two-hundred-year obsession with go-all-the-way politics, the President succumbed to the political power of the Washington Star Chamber he promised to make self-deprecating. Rather than elevating the political discourse from juvenile they're-worse-than-me narratives, Obama pandered to his polarised base with the fatuous "you didn't build that" meme and a commitment to save Big Bird.

Thus the lies, strife and disunity go on.

In secular society, diversity of opinion and free speech are cherished liberties – provided they don't blaspheme received orthodoxy relating to the welfare state, religious pluralism, sexual preference or unfettered immigration. Dim-witted conservatives are ridiculed for being social Darwinists, hateful and intolerant of Muslims and gays, while the likes of Bittman, honest and informed, are lionised as crusaders of truth and justice.

Of course, remote, angry Republicans are equally culpable, clinging to their guns and religion, bending the truth in the service of any agenda. But there's one vital difference, the quality that allows them to excuse their arrogance and ruthlessness. Self-centeredness is at least on the right side of the either-or choice. Something worth defending at any cost, including life itself.

In the absence of a courageous Democratic president, the right, somewhat ironically, becomes a much-need buffer preventing morally and intellectually confused liberals from using democracy to subjugate personal responsibility.

After the Aurora shootings in July, Mitt Romney claimed "changing the heart of the American people may well be what's essential", not introducing new gun laws. The New York Times slammedthe Republican nominee for not providing "a clue on how he plans to reach that heart", while other self-regarding experts mocked it as nonsense and a "word salad", a random syntax designed to give the impression of meaningfulness.

It would seem it's too much to expect smug political journalists to appreciate the unconditional and metaphysical goal towards which democracy tends. The society we all long for is one that has faith in its individuals to see the blinding good sense of working together, rather than resorting to the machine and its grand plans to reform the human heart.

The real disappointment is knowing that Barack Obama does get it. He is unique, the embodiment of personal triumph, the closest thing to evidence of the dream becoming real, Americans can expect.

I suppose we'll now just have to wait and see if the window has closed.

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About the Author

Mark is a social and political commentator, with a background in economics. He also has an abiding interest in philosophy and theology, and is trying to write a book on the nature of reality. He blogs here.

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Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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