Democracy has turned into a part-time experience for Americans.
The vast majorities only actively participate, or even pay attention about every 4 years, (election time). Taxpayers have long since stopped seeing themselves as an integral part or participant in Democracy. The populace has become more secular everyone seeking their own mini-democracies or enclaves or their own communities. Edward Banfield called these “amoral families.” The concept is basically maximizing your families’ material world and everyone else will do the same. What they fail to understand is the very meaning of Democracy, the people are the government.
The best example in illustrating how dangerous this can be, is the comparison of the Mafia. They have a strict moral code that holds the family together. But in dealing with the outside world this code is null and void, anything goes. The American populace must break out of these secular little worlds. We all must be an active participant the governmental process, and in order to do that we must be educated in how to participate. The very premise of a “public” school system, for any and all citizens to participate in, is pure democracy.
The vast majority of the general public do not believe this theory. The public school system is the perfect site for democratic citizenship education. It is a collection of different ideologies, religion and social upbringing. One of the purest forms of democracy is the debate and open discussion of different ideals and beliefs. The process of comparing and discussing and most importantly, experiencing these differences, can better prepare students for democratic participation. I cannot stress how important physical experience of any subject matter is to learning. Where else can a person pull together such a diverse set of experiences than an “integrated School? Are we as a nation falling into the inevitable capitalist by-product and accumulating profit and end in itself? Eventually seeking “more for mine” is the mindset many of us now follow. This inevitably leads to a breakdown in the very ideal of Democracy.
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I agree with you, most people only pay attention to election time, and do not get engaged in any activities that may affect the future of their community or their country the rest of the time. It is sad but we have become very focused with making money and getting what we want, and we have forgotten how important it is to look at the bigger picture. It is important to be reminded that we are all connected somehow, and that we have the right and the duty to participate in what happens in our society. We need to speak up, we need to watch the news, and we need to vote. We cannot just accept everything. We need to be critical about what is happening about us, and try to express our opinions.
It is really scary how self-centered we have become, and I think it would be really hard to change people's mentalities. Is there a way to go back and care about our neighbors?
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