---
pubDate: 2019-08-13
title: Weighting Democracy
abstract: How should the upsides and downsides of Democracy be weighted?
tags:
  - politics
table_of_contents: true
---

## Introduction

In the United States of America, Democracy is viewed as an integral to both the
nation's identity and political system. However sympathies to alternatives have
always been present in the popular discourse as well. Additionally, "Democracy"
has gained so many political and moral connotations that the distinction between
it and a more accurate description of our political process - as a democratic
republic.

These observations inspire a few questions:

- Why is the concept of Democracy so important to the identity of the USA?
- What are the updsides and downsides to Democracy both in concept and in
  practice?
- How does Democracic practice in the USA compare to the ideal?

This article attempts to answer the second question, while touching contextually
on the first and third. Additionally, this article is a prompt for a discussion
on an episode of the Art of Thought podcast.

_Note_: I use "Democracy" capitalized not to refer to the Democratic political
party in the USA, but to specifically refer to "democracy" as popularly
conceived in the USA.

## What is Democracy?

This section serves as an overview of what Democracy means in this article.
There are many other resources that provide a more thorough foundation, but that
isn't necessary here.

So, what is democracy (lower-case)? According to dictionary.com, democracy is

> government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is
> vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents
> under a free electoral system.

This definition serves as a landmark for considering Democracy, the flavor of
democracy as concieved of in the USA. Importantly, the phrase "supreme power is
vested in the people" regards every democratic government's loyalty to the
popular desicions of citizens when they are submitted through the appropriate
protocol.

Next, there are some important lines to draw between democracy and Democracy.

_Direct democracy_ is democracy where _all_ political desicions, legislative and
executive, are made through some kind of popular vote among citizens. While this
is commonly used in small groups, it is not how the American government operates
or even pretends to operate at the national level.

_Absolute democracy_ is democracy where _all_ democratic desicions are executed
regardless of conflicts with the current law. The American national government
contains a Supreme Court that is appointed and can, in some circumstances, rule
against democractic desicions. The vast buerocracy that makes up the American
national and state governments ensures that many democratic desicions are not
faithfully executed as they are presented to the voting citizenry. And finally,
new democratic desicions cannot override the American constitution unless the
constitution is first ammeded to allow it. For example, American citizens cannot
be declared guilty of serious crimes without the option for a preceeding trial
by jury. So, the USA does not practice absolute democracy.

_Note_: A democratic republic being a kind of democracy, I take the republican
side of this category to be an aspect of Democracy in the USA.

## The Upsides of Democracy

From a historical perspective, Democracy seems to have coincided with the
development of a hugely powerful and influencial country that is the USA. The
USA is currently a global superpower unmatched in almost every aspect of
international influence, and has been a top global superpower for at least a
century.

As for domestic concerns, Americans enjoy some of the highest living standards
ever experienced in any part of the world at any point in the past. Of course,
the USA is not alone in this status --- these luxurious living standards are
matched or surpassed in most of North America, most of Europe, and much in
North-Eastern Asia.

Much of the USA's political success is popularly attributed to its faithful
practice of Democracy. Some plausible upside of Democracy are:

**U1. relative political stability**

**U2. political representation for citizens**

**U3. citizen participation in politics**

**U4. moderation of the concentration of political power**

**U5. federated legislation executive power**

**U6. cohesion of national identity**

## The Downsides of Democracy

Although Democracy is almost unanimously pronounced good by the Americans both
publically and privately, it is not without is downsides. Notably, the history
of democratic practice is littered with failures. As Plato hypothesized (with
ample evidence) in _Republic_, democracies tend toward tyranny.

Democracy's central virtue is also is central vice. The public citizenry, which
can providing an anchorpoint for political moderation, can also be swayed easily
towards political mistakes. With the upsides from the previous section in mind,
some plausible downsides of Democracy are:

**D1. unknowledgable voters involced many desicions**

**D2. political incentive to appear good to voters rather than perform well**

**D3. irrational views of citizenry when it comes to policy**

**D4. greater popularity of the short-term over the long-term**

**D5. slow processing for desicion-making**

**D6. distributed and vague responsibiltiy**

## The Net Weighting of Democracy

TODO