Opinion: US democratic ideology needs to be more representative, where majority prevails
In the late 18th century, the French writer de Tracy coined the term “ideology” to designate the science of ideas. Most often, ideology refers to a set of ideas and beliefs held by a group. In America we have a national ideology, which is democracy. Our founders personally committed themselves to the practice of our ideology when they wrote and approved the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln expressed our ideology in his Gettysburg Address, one of the greatest addresses ever given in our country. He expressed it succinctly as being government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Ideologies need to be expressed at crisis times and Lincoln did it.
Nevertheless, as the scholars, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt of Harvard pointed out, our democracy has gone through important new beginnings in our practice with expansions of the electorate. They also point out that American democracy has, in some respects, fallen behind other democracies because in too many cases, minorities of the population dominate the majority. For example, most democracies have gotten rid of the Electoral College, but America still retains it even though it allows a minority of the population to overrule the will of the majority. There are many other improvements needed, some quite badly.
I will list some of the examples they give:
Establish the right to vote for all citizens.
Establish automatic registration to vote for all citizens.
Expand early voting and easy mail-in voting options.
Make Election Day a Sunday or a national holiday.
Restore voting rights to all ex-felons, without additional fine.
Reinstate federal oversite of election rules and administration along with other national-level voting rights protection.
Eliminate partisan gerrymandering via the creation of independent redistricting commissions.
Place electoral administration of elections under professional non-partisan officials.
Abolish the Electoral College like most other democracies.
Reform the Senate so that the number of senators are more proportional to the population of each state.
Abolish the Senate filibuster.
Establish term limits of 12 or 18 years for Supreme Court justices, so every president has the same number of appointments per term.
Replace electoral rules so that the distribution of seats in Congress more accurately reflect the way Americans vote.
Make it easier to amend the Constitution by eliminating the requirement that three-quarters of state legislatures ratify any proposed amendment and make it two-thirds supermajorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
These recommendations are not listed in order of importance and are not complete. They will require study and debate, but they show that we have our work cut out for us in making our democracy truly more representative so that the majority prevails. Donald Trump does not have a clearly articulated ideology, but he has shown an affinity for autocrats and autocracy, not democratic ideology. He has been drawn toward aspects of Christianity that can be used to support an autocrat, whom people believe is a divinely designated leader to lead a society out of trouble or a crisis.
American patriotism and nationalism have always had religiously motivated words and sentiments, but no political leader of the nation has ever based his or her power and authority on being divinely appointed. Because of its democratic ideology that recognizes diversity of religious groups and viewpoints, America does not want any person or group claiming that they are divinely appointed. Trump welcoming those who regard him as divinely selected to lead is an indication of not understanding democratic ideology.
In this presidential election year, it is important that we reaffirm, discuss and improve the functioning of our democracy. It favors the free exercise of religion, but also stands against any one person or group with their religious viewpoint taking a position of authority and power over other people and groups. A false prophet will lead people into destructive paths.
We have many people and nations who are using falsehoods to mislead Americans. All democracies, and especially ours, depend on understanding and constantly improving our democracy. That is why free speech and a free press are essential to our democratic ideology, especially as they support studies and investigations by researchers in good educational institutions. There are actually many places where we need to democratize our democracy. If we constantly improve our democracy, it will be a model for the world.
More: Opinion: Americans can be led astray by those with autocratic tendencies like Donald Trump
More: Opinion: Republicans have become 'de facto White Party' by rejecting multiracial democracy
Rev. Robert L. Montgomery, Ph.D., lives in Black Mountain.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Trump's ideology leans toward autocracy not democracy
