Americans are unhappy with the United
States Congress. In fact, a 2015 Pew Research Center survey reported that only
27 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of congress.
Why
so low? Well, certainly one contributing factor is our legislators’ inability to get the job done. For example, between
2007-2016 the average number of substantive laws enacted in the first year of
five congressional terms was 77. That’s a 37 percent drop in performance from
the previous five congresses. Any business executive would be railing about numbers
like that—and rightly so.
So
what’s going on? To answer that question we need a brief lesson in democracy.
Democracy
requires adherence to two immutable principles: freedom and equality. Both are essential. Freedom without
equality is anarchy; equality without freedom is communism.
Freedom and equality are in
conflict
Here’s
the rub: Emphasis on freedom flies in the face of equality and vice versa. For
example, the freedom of speech is
rightly cherished, but not all voices have equal
influence. People with money and power have more authority than those who are
penniless and powerless. (It was the former who ratified the Constitution of
the United States. The latter—slaves,
women, and the destitute—were not consulted.)
Conversely,
equality in wealth, health care, or
college education means higher taxes and, consequently, impinges on the freedom
to manage one’s personal income. That’s
when equality legislation becomes a battle cry for less governance and more
freedom. Because laws that assure equality are
more expensive, they tend to be less popular and more difficult to pass. I
think we have seen that resistance expressed in the long national struggle to
create and retain affordable health care.
Freedom and equality are
partisan principles
Generally
speaking, freedom is the domain of Republicans and equality the domain of Democrats.
Naturally, neither side can totally dismiss the opposing principle because both
tenants are sacred. However—depending on
one’s political affiliation—one principle may be more sacred than the other.
The
Amendments of our Constitution offers an example of the yin and yang of
democracy. The first ten amendments—the Bill of Rights ratified in 1791—are all
about freedom: freedom of religion, speech, trial by jury, and the right to
bear arms, to name a few. The amendments to address inequality came later—in
some cases much later. Equality in
voting rights was ratified 79 years later for all races, 129 years later for
women, and 180 years later for 18-year olds.
These equality amendments did not come easily; it required, respectively, a
civil war, a 72-year women’s suffrage movement, and the Vietnam War that took
the lives of over 34,000 17-21-year-old enlisted men.
The
quest for freedom comes from the gut: “I need to be free to take charge of my
own life.” Equality comes from the heart: “I value all human beings and
understand when one is ignored or exploited, we all are diminished.”
Both principles are essential
in a mature democracy
The
democratic dichotomy is natural and good. Freedom and equality are linked to
the basic human needs of autonomy and love. Mature adults are self-directing on
the one hand and empathic on the other. They understand (a) the importance of
living proactive, meaningful lives while (b) contributing to those who are less
fortunate.
But
a political system is a lot messier than any individual. It is never stagnant—swinging
both left and right—and always slow in following the evolving culture. In the
1960s and 70s, the political system
slowly moved left by virtue of a ground-level, equality-based call for peace
and human rights. Today, the political system has moved toward the right,
following the lead of vociferous freedom-based evangelicals, capitalists, and nationalists.
The
pendulum will swing again. The American people will neither stand for freedom
at the exclusion of equality, nor equality at the exclusion of freedom. The
majority of our citizens know that both are essential and sacrosanct—that we
are morally and socially impoverished when one is deficient.
Because
a political system always lags behind culture, it is up to us to hold our
legislators accountable. Likewise, it is the duty of every citizen to gently
remind devoted followers of the Left or Right that the driving principle of each ideology is honorable and critical
to the health of our democracy.
My
dream is for divergent Americans across the country to listen to each other so that their example might inspire our
senators and representatives to honor and engage their colleagues across the
aisle. Wouldn’t that be one laudable democracy?
