“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
-Supreme Court Justice
Louis D. Brandeis
We have the greatest democracy the world has ever known. Or do we? Many politicians who put forth this notion have little understanding of how our nation is currently structured.
We have a constitutional Republic which in recent years more often than not has been controlled by a minority of voters from smaller states. However, most of our gullible citizens still believe the USA to be a majority rules democracy governed by its people through their fairly elected representatives.
I can already hear the howling from the Scalia-loving-right about our Founding Fathers and Constitutional original intent (which was based on Plato’s postulation that “dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy”). Yes, my conservative friends, you are correct in that in the 1700s the landed gentry did not trust the uneducated masses enough to give them a true democracy. It was a different world.
But they also didn’t give the vote to women and African Americans … however, we corrected those mistakes and others via Constitutional Amendments. Now, the USA needs to remedy other basic failings, some completely unforeseen by the Founders. Unfortunately, our Supreme Court (SCOTUS) is currently controlled by “original intent” Scalia-type activists who want minimal change and apparently believe we are still stuck in the 1700s. It’s an unfortunate fact that four of these justices were appointed by Presidents (W and Trump) who were elected by the Electoral College (i.e. undemocratically) but not US voters, the majority of whom voted against them.
Here are just a few of the needed changes.
Federal Laws Needed:
1. Disenfranchisement: Voter restrictions are discouraging participation, especially after the wrong-headed 2013 SCOTUS decision invalidating part of the 1965 Voting Rights Law (which had been in place nearly 50 years). As the ACLU states: “Politicians across the country continue to engage in voter suppression, efforts that include additional obstacles to registration, cutbacks on early voting, and strict voter identification requirements.” A much stronger Voter’s Rights Bill must be passed by Congress (note: several have been introduced). If the current far right SCOTUS rejects it, a constitutional remedy may be required.
2. Gerrymandering: Those in power stay in power by drawing districts to help themselves, negating the will of voters via “packing” (concentrating a type of voter in a district) and “cracking” (dispersing voters of a certain type over several districts). For example, taking people in a lake community and dividing them into two districts to ensure that their voting power would be diminished, as happened to me as a County Commissioner. Federal laws can be passed to discourage these practices on the part of states. For example, requiring all states to utilize non-partisan redistricting commissions as used by 4 states now. Again, if SCOTUS rejects these laws, constitutional remedies may be needed.
Constitutional Amendments Required:
1. Transparency of campaign financing: Thanks to SCOTUS’s misguided, naive 5-4 2010 Citizens United decision, the worst since Dredd Scott, dark money has become even more prevalent in our political system with “super Pac” spending reaching $1.5 billion in 2018 (per Open Secrets). Citizens United (and the closely related Speech Now decision) overturned campaign financing laws and regulations designed to prevent corporations from simply buying our elections, With the current even more far-right court, only a constitutional amendment can counteract this activist court
2.Limitations on contributions: Speech Now/Citizens United also took the individual contributions restrictions off, as a way of guaranteeing corporations a right to “free speech,” a right never stated in the constitution for businesses versus citizens. Put simply, this activist anti-democratic decision clearly and purposefully assisted the wealthy in controlling our Republic.
3. Electoral college: Two of the three last presidents were elected with fewer votes than their opposition (W and Trump). We can’t establish a democracy until every citizen’s vote is counted equally, regardless of state size. The Electoral College, a counter democracy contrivance, is no longer needed.
4. Senators distributed by population: Senators should be distributed on the basis of population. For example, one Senator per million state population could be a standard. It’s undemocratic to have one Senator per 20 million for California residents and one Senator per .3 million for Wyoming residents.
Will these sorely needed changes take place overnight? No, especially since we have the wealthy and privileged controlling our elections, Congress, SCOTUS and Presidency.
Regardless, it’s past time to make these moves. However, they will not occur unless and until the voters at long last demand them.
