Throughstone #15: It’s Time to Be Direct

Democracy didn’t fail us. The system did. Representative democracy works reasonably well until dilution or delusion kick in, or in the worst case scenario that is now, both become driving factors in suppressing the will of the people.

Slamming the gavel to recess the House of Representatives on December 18th, before addressing the two major issues in which our fractured American citizenry actually has extraordinary alignment was the sound of a hammer attempting to shatter the will of the people. Lightly interpreted, it was a failure of representation. More accurately stated, it was an outright abdication of representation. As it turns out, a clear majority of Americans desperately want affordable health care and deplore the abuse and sex trafficking of minors. 

When the public will is diluted with the influence of special interests or representatives become deluded with the notion that they have no accountability to their constituents, it’s time for us to retool the democratic system. It’s time for direct democracy. 

Besides eliminating the antiquated and undemocratic electoral college, we have to advance the use of public referendums that give power to the numeric voice of the people. The earliest recorded forms of direct democracy go back to the Vikings, and referendums are used for advancing publicly-supported initiatives and vetos in US states since the 1800s.  

Direct democracy is not radical. In fact, it’s elementary. One voice, one vote. Majority rules. Votes are counted. Officials are accountable. 

Democracy isn’t dead—it’s under-utilized, under-appreciated, and not fully imagined…until we say so.

NOTES

*For an excellent summary of pragmatic ways to advance direct democracy in the US, read this overview: 

https://effectivegov.uchicago.edu/primers/direct-democracy-and-ballot-measures 

**It wasn’t until I began interviewing the citizens of Mals in the South Tirol province of Italy to share their extraordinary story in fighting for a pesticide-free future that I really began to understand the potency of direct democracy tools and strategies. See A Precautionary Tale for a deeper dive into the concept and their tactics.

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“Throughstone 250” is a purposefully constrained blog project. As a long-winded Southerner constrained by Vermont’s limited porch season and the Yankee penchant for paragraphs of three words or less, I’ve opted to aim for semi-daily reflections of precisely 250 words for the foreseeable future.

250 means something right now. Maybe more than we anticipated. It’s symbolic but incredibly important…and a 250 word count seems much less constrained than a 5-7-5 syllable count for a haiku. 

Like many others, I’m struggling to make meaning out of these tumultuous days. I’ve always found it useful to try and write my way out of tough spots. Looking for throughstones is just one more effort to try and generate some meaning from the mayhem.

More free-ranging rambles here, if you’re so inclined: https://www.freerangeprof.com/blog