Using a different format of presentation, the Brookings Institution introduced Congressman Raskin of Maryland in A Fireside Chat setting with Dr. Allen, President of Brookings. Their conversation was followed by a panel discussion of the following analysts: Sarah Binder, panel moderator, Brookings; Fiona Hill, Senior Editor, Lawfare; Quinta Jurecic, Brookings; Rashawn Ray, Brookings; and Molly Reynolds, Brookings. This online event, entitled "The Future of American Democracy: A Conversation with Congressman Raskin," transpired on Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 10 AM.
The format utilized enabled me to pause and reflect upon the advantages of democracy over autocracy, its major organization of government in opposition today, before the analysts' started probing through with their comments. The primary value of the democratic method of doing government--and it is a service to the people it claims are its citizenry--is that it passes on to the next administration of government a host of practices and precepts (utilized during its tenure and approved by the people more or less) through a peaceful, law-abiding process of turnover of government. So, while the administration may radically change in people, the body of methods and procedures in practice are essentially given over to the next administration--there being no grounds for radical civil change in them in the turnover process. The procedure for changeover in personnel is known as an election.
Now the advantages of democracy is that the change in governmental administrators is peaceful and law-abiding, the method of administering justice, and treatment of its citizenry is by rule of law...etc. Indeed, there are many over an autocracy, but that is not to say that autocracy has some advantages, too. But the principal advantage is that it is people-citizen oriented. The people choose their governmental leaders through the election process. This is to enable the citizen to pursue his own long-term goals in life--whether they be for economic accumulation of wealth, for community-service, for educating, for improving relationships among groups, etc. as expressions of self-commitment as a societal member; and to recognize his belonging as a citizen to a country on earth!
Of course there is always need for adding more democracy to the government--permitting even greater personal freedom and independence. For there's a fundamental tension between self-expression of the human being and his self-commitment to country. Be that as it may, nearly all who reflect upon the two methods of governing admit that democracy permits greater freedom of self-expression within a communal setting.
Indeed, one of the panelists today referred to the philosopher John Dewey, noting that he promulgated the thought that society is forever in need of even greater democracy for his society to grow and develop as a people who accept innovation and promote seeking remedy to the problems it encounters in order for its citizens to live well.
Importantly, however, we must not lose sight of the fact that democracy is institutionally oriented: laws are kept, founded and changed not by the whim of some autocrat but by a body recognized to maintain the principles and legality of the system in one respect or another. And importantly, it is the laws and the instruments of justice that are passed on to the next generation of governmental administrators.
So, there's advantages to a society and to the person living in it to participate in a democratic form of government. The real problem with autocracy is hardly ever mentioned, to my way of thinking, however: in an autocracy, it is presumed that everybody in it is pursuing one only long-term goal for himself, viz., to live to make more money or anything that money can buy him. That is patently, false. Nevertheless, I think most who pursue toward the social "top" of the ladder in an autocracy are obsessed with this one objective and think everybody else is so consumed, too. A naive opinion.
All-in-all, the event got me to thinking why democracy is the way to go. It's just more advanced beyond autocracy, enabling the individual to be himself in a social setting. Thanks for a fireside chat, Dr. Allen and Congressman Raskin.
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