The United States has declared itself to be the global leader in democracy through its mass media, powerful economy, and extensive military. However, much reform is needed before the US can become truly democratic.
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Despite its domineering international presence and
persistent claim to democracy, the US has never been truly democratic. While
the Western superpower does have some features of democracy, many authoritarian
regimes, such as Russia and Egypt, have democratic features as well.
The US claims to be a representative democracy, meaning the
people’s elected officials are obligated to consider their constituents’ ideas,
interests, concerns, and welfare in making political decisions. However, the
reality is that US politicians feel indebted to the megadonors who finance
their elections, and as a result, choose to serve not the people who voted them
into power, but the financiers who made their election to office a
reality.
The rich have US politicians on a leash. In 2017, the then
president, Donald Trump, was accused of meeting with his 2016
campaign megadonor, Sheldon Adelson, for counsel on how to address the mass
shooting in Las Vegas, a horrific attack that killed 59 people and
injured over 500 at a country music festival. That was two days before Trump
finally arrived in Las Vegas to meet with the surviving victims and the
families mourning the dead. Trump has denied these allegations, claiming that
the timing of his meeting with Adelson was purely coincidental, and had nothing
to do with the fact that Adelson had major investments in Las Vegas.
The US electoral system is incredibly corrupt, as demonstrated by its recent election of the House Speaker, an event that
will go down in history as one of the most notorious examples of the
inefficiency of American politics. The country seems to be exclusively run
by two conflicting political parties: the Democrats and the Republicans.
Consequently, the nation has become extremely politically polarized, and many
Americans experience daily frustration and anger over conflicting political
beliefs.
Economic disparity and discrimination are particularly
oppressive to minority groups including Native Americans, blacks, Latinos, and
now Muslims. The gap between the rich and the poor is deep and ever-widening.
Approximately 32% of all wealth in the US is held by only 1% of the population,
an alarmingly disproportionate statistic. Even more concerning is that at the
same time, over 11% of Americans live below poverty level.
A 2020 article by The New York Times described the economic
disparities in the United States quite accurately, stating that, “Americans may
be equal, but some are more equal than others.” Even when the US is in a deep
deficit, the government tax policy consistently favors the rich, despite the
fact that 60% of Americans believe the nation’s wealthiest
should pay more taxes.
The United States government (USG) is entangled with
the rich, the “deep
state” of America. By definition, any government whose power, either
overtly or covertly, is controlled by a small group of wealthy constituents, is
called plutocracy. Former US president Jimmy Carter once
alluded to the plutocracy of the US political system, describing it as, “an
oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.”
The
Incentive for Corruption
Because political candidates in America require substantial funding to run their campaigns, they
become obliged to the rich. To win
a Senate seat, a candidate spends an average of over $10 million. According
to The Washington Post, the 2016 presidential
candidates, Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump, spent a combined sum of over one
billion dollars on their political campaigns.
The wealthy also use their power to manipulate the media,
flooding broadcasting platforms with polarizing advertisements and persuading
the American public that the only votes that count are votes for either the
Democratic or Republican parties.
This sort of propaganda makes many Americans feel
overwhelmed and confused about which candidate they should be
voting for, and some even choose to abstain from voting at all because they
don’t support either candidate. Many Americans are ignorant that the elections
are a scheme to make them think about having a voice in the government.
However, the choice of who ultimately becomes president, congressman, or other
official is usually left to the two political parties at the mercy of the
rich.
Even at the state level, wealthy Americans control political
candidates and elected officials by donating to their campaigns. The rich also
use their financial power to marginalize certain communities through a process
called gerrymandering, in which the boundaries of electoral
districts are strategically drawn in a way which favors one political party
over the other. . Minorities, the poor, and the least educated are usually the
victims of this unethical practice.
A Call for
Reform
Without ethical
standards in place to ensure equal opportunity and constitutional rights for
all citizens, democracy can easily become what John Adams called, “the tyranny of the majority.” Thomas Jefferson also purportedly claimed
that democracy can often resemble mob rule, and this comparison has a ring of
truth.
The USG must reform.
The country’s current system is riddled with corruption and will not be
sustainable long term, as evidenced by the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. capitol building. At the very least, steps must
be taken to make sure that campaign funding is democratic and fair first
by cutting all government funding to individual campaigns and political
parties, and instead requiring the media to allocate “equal air
time” at no cost to candidates. Second, the USG must
create and enforce regulations to limit campaign funding and prevent
“megadonors” from manipulating elections and government policy.
To alleviate the
megadonors’ influence, the USG could limit all contributions from all sources
equal to what an average-income American is willing to contribute to a
candidate. PACs, unions and other associations can multiply that amount by the
number of their active members. However, no member can be allowed to
double-dip, individual and in group.
Only when the United
States takes steps to implement these changes will the nation begin its
ascension to true democracy.
By Mehdi Alavi
This article was originally edited by Hannah Gage and published in Fair Observer on February 7,
2023.
