Democracy and elite

Modern Age, Spring, 2003 by Mordecai Roshwald

Thus there is a possibility that in American democracy the leadership will at least partly slip into the hands of unelected and technically extra-constitutional individuals, eager for popularity and personal success and oblivious of public responsibility. This opens the door for demagoguery and may undermine the authority and stature of elected officials. Even if it would be an exaggeration to expect that this media elite will replace the official people's representatives, and make the latter completely dependent on the former, the ascendancy of the mediacracy threatens the present institutions and may facilitate the degeneration of representative democracy. We may well follow the pattern of decline of ancient Athens in our own peculiar modern way.

Are we doomed, or can we arrest the process? What can be done to reverse the trend? We can try to answer the second question, while the first one will be answered by the steps actually taken.

First, there must be a public recognition of the true nature of representative democracy, which we have tried to convey here. Then the elected representatives, from the President downward, have to decide that once in office they are free to listen to and follow their own judgment and conscience, rather than obediently adhere to the demands of their constituents, even if this conduct should cost them re-election. Better be a one-term official who performs his duty honorably, than continue in office as a self-effacing spokesman of fashionable trends.

To reduce the tendency of public officials to curry favor with their potential electors, the period of election campaigns ought to be drastically reduced, as is the case in Britain, for example. This will enhance the chances that the elected officials will discount public opinion for a considerable part of their term in office.

Then, there should be a reduction, if not outright elimination, of public opinion polls on every conceivable public issue. Even more important is to discontinue the polls about the President's popularity. They turn the holder of the office- irrespective of the party he belongs to- into a hypochondriac, continuously haying his pulse counted. A president cannot effectively preside if he is constantly checked about his political "health."

The "talk-shows" and public interviews on television may well go on. There is no way for a democratic regime to prevent the citizens from watching and participating in exchanges of ideas, even if these are often half-baked or biassed, and not aimed at public weal. Perhaps there is even some benefit to be gained from such programs, as they may stimulate public interest and involvement in politics. Yet the public should realize that such talks and performances are not a substitute for an informed opinion about any issue, and that one has to explore such an issue through written literature and not merely through select interviews and erratic chatting facilitated by the electronic media. This is a way, the way of knowledge, for each citizen to lift himself or herself into the ranks of the informed elite.