On Democracy

To me a liberal American democracy can be defined as a form of government where every citizen is equal as to rights, opportunities and justly earned rewards, and where everyone has a right to participate in the affairs of state on the basis of one vote per person. Ultimately, the direction of the country is determined on the basis of consensus, where the majority rules. That sorta sucks since it can mean that something around half of the population don’t always get their way. The ‘White’ community alone constitutes a potential voting bloc of 61+%, the Black Community 13-%, Hispanics 17+%, Asians 5+%. That’s a reality, that’s a fact in our democratic mosaic. This fact can put minority groups at a somewhat disadvantage unless they are able to convince a lot of people who are not in their ‘group’ to support their cause. Regretfully, that doesn’t always go over very well. When any form of lawlessness is construed as being condoned or conducted in the name of some movement or group, their support is weakened, not strengthened. That group is likely to suffer the consequences.

In a real sense we are all in minority groups. America is made up of people who can trace their ancestry to many different countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  At times there has been discrimination levied at all of these groups. Overlay this with different religious preferences, political predilections, sexual orientation, etc and – – –  well, its a jungle to manage. Competent administrations must undertake the difficult task of balancing all these diverse interests and competing demands as best they can, while showing understanding and empathy and trying to promote progress, peace and tranquility across the board. Not easy, but that’s their job. That’s what they signed up for. If we don’t like and cannot abide the majority-rule principle in the constitution, I guess we are all free to go somewhere where we can be in the majority.

Of course we don’t have and don’t want blind voting along hard and rigidly defined lines. But we do want the decisions of our leadership to be based on what is best for the country as a whole, not for just one group or one party. We have the right and the obligation to peacefully call attention to and to demonstrate against any and all injustices. But in a democracy our preferences are not always attainable in full. We have to accept tradeoffs and compromises; we have to strive for justice for all; we have to work for a strong and unified America and we have to honor and accept the precepts embedded in the constitution. God help us to achieve that – – – for the alternative is strife, chaos and insecurity.

– – – – Just the view of a common man