This Fragile Thing Called "Democracy"

by Dr. Richard Alberta

In the summer of 2001, my wife Donna and I had the joy of visiting a Christian Church in Istanbul, Turkey. We worshipped with the local believers and spent some time with the Pastor and his wife. We also met a fine Christian Turk who owned a carpet shop that we found almost irresistible! We spent a couple of hours with literally stacks of fine Persian rugs and the owners serving us tea and desserts. But most fascinating was a conversation that our new friend initiated. He wanted to know about democracy in America. Who makes the laws? How are the representatives chosen? Are we conscientious about voting? All good questions.

Turkey is one of the very few democracies in the Middle East. Since the close of World War II, they have sent representatives to their Congress regularly. But our rug merchant was a little frustrated. He informed us that although his is a small country, they have over three thousand representatives serving different terms under different circumstances. Thus, their governing body is replete with people coming and going. While Turks understand their responsibilities as voters, their system hardly motivates them to go to the polls. How stunned he was to hear that our national Congress numbers less than six hundred in a country much larger than his. As I explained the workings of our government from the federal to the local levels, he was complimentary and admitted feeling envious. A very thoughtful man.

This exchange reminded me of how precious our right to vote is in America. It highlighted the importance of each candidate chosen on all levels. We don’t flood our representative bodies with legislators. Rather, we choose capable individuals and give each of them very meaningful prerogatives. Compared to other democracies around the world, ours is tightly organized and invites the most capable people to seek office. Those serving are regularly held to account and are often replaced. But none of that matters…if we fail to vote!

It’s easy to skip out on Election Day. I’ve done it. We’re all busy and it’s not hard to "let someone else do it." We might say, "After all, what difference would one vote make anyway?" But this thinking brings to mind the great formula offered by the eighteenth century German philosopher Immanuel Kant. His suggestion reduced to this: we should always ask "How would it be if everyone did this?" For example, what if everyone stayed home on Election Day? This fragile thing we call democracy would limp to a halt and close the doors on freedom. Our founding fathers would groan at the thought! And our Turkish friend would be perplexed beyond imagining that a people who have the best system in the world sometimes don’t bother to vote!

Voting is not just necessary and morally correct. It should be pleasant. When we go to vote, we see friends and join in a great moment of honorable citizenship. And when we cast our ballot, we have a small but significant impact on the issues of the day. And finally, voting can be quite amusing. On a recent election day, I ran into a friend at our polling location. We greeted each other warmly even though we are complete polar oppositeness on our political views. He suggested that since all we were going to do was offset each other, we should go get breakfast. Neither of us would vote, we’d be well-fed and free to start the day with clear consciences! The idea had possibilities, but of course we stayed and voted. Better than breakfast, we shared in the high privilege of electing our public officials. Neither of us would miss it! And, if I may say so, you shouldn't either!

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