Democracy requires words and wisdom

The social contract is an agreement among citizens to sacrifice some of their individual rights for the benefit of society. To be effective, this agreement requires citizens to socially engage with each other through civil discourse.

America’s social contract is created through democratic practices of voting, citizen involvement in government and conversation among members of the public. These days, citizen involvement and conversation are sparse. Turn in any direction and you will notice ineffective conversation or won’t notice any conversation at all, because it isn’t there.

Our politicians refuse to openly discuss issues that will affect an entire nation; our neighbors don’t speak across the fence about the day’s events; family members can’t stand a Thanksgiving dinner together anymore because they’ve become so polarized; and students sit on their phones and computers while their teacher lectures. 

This lack of social interest and avoidance of uncomfortable situations does nothing more than further polarize people from society and those they may disagree with, which is not good for our democracy.

On that point, when people avoid each other, it follows that discussion is ceased, and when people are uninterested, discussion is ineffective. Consequently, democracy cannot function.

The cure to the issue of ineffective discussion is simple: find some way to care about relevant things and talk to people who don’t think exactly like you do. While that cure seems simple, prescribing the right medication is more complex for an entire nation. 

Especially one where so many people care so little about things that don’t directly affect them. Indeed, many times I find myself fired up about a current issue only to see my friends lackadaisical in response, and their apathy dumbfounds me when considering how necessary political discourse is to the success of our democracy. 

Lack of discourse is the most direct cause of long-term political turmoil in a democracy. This is because the small issues that most people don’t care about eventually pile up and require drastic action to solve rather than slight actions taken over time.

Hence, only when the problem reaches a boiling point does one side gain enough people’s interest to exercise a majority tyranny to drastically change long standing norms. This change naturally shocks the other side, and all the sudden they react by jumping from their slumber of inquisivity. 

In essence, every issue in the US seems to be on a pendulum swaying from side to side with each political party that gains enough congressional seats, the oval office or cloaks in the high court. 

Fortunately, real engagement with fellow Americans will inevitably force compromise at every level of our government. Nonetheless, that sort of real engagement requires that we discuss issues with people we disagree with. 

Still, doing so will not cause us to lose face, but we may better understand their positions, beliefs and reasoning. In turn, we may actually be able to convince them that our own reasoning is the best solution to a problem.