What Makes a Democracy Strong?
Author: Jack Wischhusen
Democracy is an idea or way of life that has become very familiar to us nowadays. With people constantly yelling that we are on the verge of the end of it, and others saying it has never been stronger. It’s hard to really grasp what is happening in our system with all this commotion. So what makes democracy strong? And are we still experiencing a strong one?
When it comes to what a strong democracy looks like, it can be challenging to find a perfect example to point to. Democracies come in various shapes and forms, each with its own unique political and legal systems. However, I believe the best way to determine if a democracy is still strong is by looking at the people in charge of picking our leaders, you, the people. The people ultimately decide who leads their democracy on both the international and local stages. Why is this a good test of the strength of a democracy? Because the more people participate, knowledgeably and rationally, the more likely it is that the people’s ideas will be enacted. When people know that their system works, they are more likely to participate and want to learn more about it as well. On the other hand, when people are uncaring or even scared of the idea of voting, we can see the faltering of the democratic system. We can see this with the last Presidential election, the 2024 election, where people thought the idea of voting was choosing between lesser or greater evils, causing many people not to vote, leading to an unexpected result.
But why is it bad to have a weak democracy? Does voting even matter anymore? In weak democracies, many issues begin to emerge, ranging from simple concerns about leaders not representing the people’s voice to exclusion from the election process. Unfortunately, there has been a recent outcry for stricter voting laws, such as requiring photo ID, which not everyone has. Laws that could prevent voting for large numbers of citizens would pose problems for both the people and the government itself. If people can’t vote, who will champion their issues, and who will they turn to for help? If people can’t rely on their government for help, they may turn to other sources, such as criminals or foreign powers. This cause-and-effect chain would lead to unstable governments and unsafe areas to live. James Gardener writes: “The absence of an established, ready-at-hand legal remedy clearly raises the risk of popular rejection of the result.” Meaning, if people believe that there was unfairness in the election, it may cause them to distrust the election and even think it was rigged. This is why voting matters: to prevent the potential problems that could arise from a weak democracy and to ensure that our concerns are handled.
At the end of the day, a democracy is only as strong as we, the people, are strong. We must stay informed about what is happening in our democracy so that we can keep it.
SOURCE:
Gardner, James. “Democratic Legitimacy under Conditions of Severely Depressed Voter Turnout | the University of Chicago Law Review.” Uchicago.edu, lawreview.uchicago.edu/online-archive/democratic-legitimacy-under-conditions-severely-depressed-voter-turnout.
