Many of those who profess to care about the state of American democracy have no interest in salvaging the constitutional structure that makes it work.
Many of those who profess to care about the state of American democracy have no interest in salvaging the constitutional structure that makes it work.
P erhaps no American political trope is as contradictorily employed today as “saving democracy.” Some political partisans, especially President Biden, equate “saving democracy,” with supporting him over Donald Trump. Some of Biden’s opponents believe that his abuse of executive orders could be corrected by replacing him with a successor issuing executive orders based on a different worldview. The Washington Post, meanwhile, suggests by its motto that democracy can be saved for the price of a subscription. What’s clear is that we’re not sure what democracy is, how it might be saved, or even why we should bother trying.
Perhaps we can agree that democracy means more than counting votes. Citizen engagement in democracy entails far more than voting, as illustrated by the fact that many autocratic countries routinely hold elections and also affirm “democracy,” even enshrining it in their constitutions.
Democracy is not tribalistic spectating but requires civic education, self-government, local problem-solving, and caring for our communities. Limiting governmental power is most feasible and successful when Americans are engaging with neighbors on important issues, protecting the rights of the minority, and elevating the rule of law and equality under the law.
In contemporary American politics, candidates, even bad ones, are less a threat to democracy than a symptom of its illness. And some of the causes of that illness can be found in trends that undermine citizen self-governance. They include the increasing centralization of power at the federal level and accompanying administrative state overreach.
Unelected administrative-agency officials ruling by decree on issues such as education, crime, energy, and human sexuality is fundamentally antidemocratic. If unaccountable bureaucrats can issue commands to fit an agenda unencumbered by elections, our democracy suffers. “Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy,” declared Calvin Coolidge. Similarly, James Madison warned in Federalist No. 47 against the accumulation of all powers of the separate branches of government into many or a few hands, calling it “the very definition of tyranny.” In the Declaration of Independence, the English Crown is denounced because King George “erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
Saving democracy requires adherence to the separation of powers as outlined in the Constitution. Otherwise our national government starts to have more in common with King George’s reign than with anything envisioned by the American founders. If states become mere satellites to federal power and are increasingly beholden to federal money, America’s experiment in self-government comes undone.
The reason for this is simple: Localized government is more accountable and responsible to the needs of the people. Your neighbor who represents you is much more likely to share common interests with you than are federal lawmakers and certainly more so than are federal-agency officials who don’t even have to stand for election. Importantly, even many nationwide problems require far different solutions at a local level. Furthermore, more than 500,000 state and local officials represent Americans compared with 535 members of Congress. According to the Federal Register, there are only 97 more members of Congress than there are total federal agencies and sub-agencies.
The good news is state legislatures can do more to oversee state agencies and a federal administrative state that tends to usurp power from the people’s representatives. In American Habits, the attorney Daniel Dew provides examples of agencies run amok, illustrating why oversight is essential to protecting and preserving actual democracy.
A flourishing civil society is another key component of a healthy democracy. Other components include strong families, civic associations, religious communities, and voluntary and charitable organizations, all of them buffers between the people and government power. Strong civil society reinforces a politics of citizenship, elevating the principle that people are the government and that their obligation to society transcends the legislative process. Civil society serves as a reminder that the most important aspects of saving democracy do not even fall within the political realm.
The truth is that politicians can’t save our democracy. Ultimately, it’s up to the American people — who are supposed to be the government’s masters, not servants. Yet, the power to choose policy through elected representatives is stripped from voters if the unelected are allowed to rule as a superior and unaccountable fourth branch of our national government. True democracy has always been about self-government, which collapses if we look first to Washington, D.C., the entrenched administrative state, or its bevy of would-be political “saviors.”