Dr. Arthur C. Donart, Ph. D. wrote this essay.
I have long believed voting in our elections is a sacred duty. I am a Korean Conflict Veteran and was unable to vote until I was 21 years of age. In the midst of the Vietnam War we constantly would hear the argument, “If they’re old enough to fight, they’re old enough to vote.” Finally, in 1971 the States ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. It reads: Section 1, The right of citizens of the United States , who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. Section 2 states, The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The intent is clear. Any citizen, who is 18 years or older on Election Day may not be denied a ballot. Furthermore, Congress has the duty to enforce this Amendment.
Twenty-seven Republican-governed States have passed laws to abridge our right to vote. Wouldn’t it be nice if they abridged our duty to pay taxes? Oops; if you are sufficiently wealthy, they’ve done that! This explains why the distribution of wealth in our Country is so lopsided, in favor of the wealthy contributors who have “the best politicians money can buy.” These wealthy contributors are able to stop any changes in laws that would make the distribution of wealth more fair. Granted, they are a minority, and our Constitution was designed to protect minority rights, but not the right to overthrow the principle of Majority Rule.
Unfortunately, this has been the case for too long, and it is why a segment of our population has soured on “democracy.” Democracy does not work very well, if it is not real democracy. The ideal was (and still is) “one person-one vote.”
For example, Wyoming has a population of 576,851 people, and they are represented by two Senators. Washington, D. C. has a population of 692,683 people who are represented by zero U. S. Senators. Is that fair? The State of New York has a population of 19.45 million people. If we treated New York like Wyoming, New York would have 34 U. S. Senators representing them! I know, there are only 100 seats in the Senate Chamber. So, give each Senator 17 votes to cast and give D. C. two Senators with a half vote each. This might restore democracy, a.k.a. Majority Rule.
Another obstacle to democracy is a Senate rule that requires 60 votes to pass legislation. It is called the “filibuster.” It was designed to keep the Northern States from abolishing legal slavery. It is not in our Constitution, nor is it even a law. It is used primarily to frustrate the will of the people, as expressed in the General Election.
It takes a simple majority vote of the Senators to eliminate this obstacle. So, why do Democratic Senators Joseph Manchin III and Kyrsten Sinema refuse to support this anachronistic rule? Perhaps it is, because they do not want to vote in favor of popular Democratic proposals, to which their wealthy campaign contributors object.
Unless at least ten Republican Senators indicate support, these proposals will not be called up for a vote.
There are other hindrances to our democracy. Good governance requires well-informed citizens. If we continue to allow politicians to lie outright, e g. “death panels,” and suffer no consequences; if we allow elections to be run on slogans–rather than serious debates–then we will continue to get the poor governance so many detest.