Well, Democracy is...

Democracy is fundamentally built on the idea of participatory government. This means that all people should have an influence in the direction their country goes in. I don’t know all the details, but in my understanding of traditional democracy an uneven number of citizens was taken, voted on an issue and the majority opinion would be taken as true. America has evolved. Logistically, it would just be too hard to organize the millions of citizens to vote on all issues. Thus America’s become a sort of representative republic, where citizens vote to elect individuals who (theoretically) reflect an individual’s ideals, and will strive to put said ideals to work. Participation comes from voting on individuals, not causes; this is how our system differs from tradition but maintains vestiges.

Of course, there are plenty of flaws. I could complain about how there are ways to disclude votes, or how electoral college members have chosen not to agree with their districts majority. But I think there are more fundamental ideals to address within “democracy”. Quite honestly, it’s hard to think about these minute details we’ve created when there isn’t a solid definition of what a democracy is. How can we be expected to uphold a golden idea that isn’t solid, but rather keeps falling through our hands?

Whitman approaches this issue. To say he moves us directly to an answer would be incorrect. There are some aspects he does address which I am interested in, however. To my understanding Whitman views democracy as a means for growing individuals. America strives to be a democracy so that it may create beautiful examples of humanity who are intellectually powerful, courageous, and ideological. He speaks of the power of literature, and how the thoughts of the Greeks influence the development of the western world; he addresses artists who created dreamscapes around them. He addresses the need for an American counterpart. Whitman seems to believe Americans were courageous, of course, but lacked intelligence. This fortitude could carry them forward in the democratic experiment the US created, but there was a necessity for education. To go from budding country of idealists to democratic utopia considerable amounts of self- improvement was necessary.

From this discourse I’ve written with myself I’ve discovered something; democracy is about the empowerment of the individual. Yes, it has to do with voting. But a citizen is granted a vote because that means they garner the respect as an person to be able to cast that vote. It moves beyond that though, to the devolvement of a wholesome persona. By creating more well-rounded, strong individuals we may hope to create a more well-rounded, strong democracy. Promotion of literature and “IDEAS” is a flowering of intelligence Americans should grasp and nourish. This way we can be the great country that we claim to be.

This of course leads me to wonder where we have gone wrong. Rather, I wonder if we have improved as much as Whitman expected us to. Of course there have been improvements, in suffrage and otherwise. But it seems as if Whitman imagined the end of this war, a new nation emerging from the ashes it created and becoming the epitome of what it dreamed to be. Perhaps in smaller steps, America’s getting there. I’m still waiting for the quality education system that will turn our students into young Platos and Aristotles. There's also much to say about corrupt political systems where no vote has any influence. And when corporate lobbyists have so much control over what legislation is passed, one has to wonder where the power lies. Have we begun to nurture the idea of a stronger dollar as apposed to a stronger person? Perhaps it's always been this way, but I am able to notice it more within my own era than times I haven't lived in.

The fact that our idea of democracy isn't clean-cut probably doesn't help matters either.