This story is published as part of U.S. Democracy Day and the Utah College Media Collaborative, a cross-campus project bringing together emerging journalists from Salt Lake Community College, the University of Utah, Utah State University and Utah Tech University.
Founded on placing the power of governance in the people, democracy is an ongoing experiment dating back to ancient Athens. Today, the United States remains a leading example of this ongoing political experiment.
Fundamentally, the only requirement for democracy is vesting the power of decision-making to the people, whether directly or indirectly.
The U.S. applies this indirectly, allowing voters to elect government officials to represent them. The most extreme example of this is the upcoming presidential election.
While democracy has long remained on a pedestal in Western culture, it isn’t without flaws.
Any system that requires individuals to cast votes relies on the assumption that voters are educated on the topic of discussion. The fact that democracy cannot guarantee this assumption suggests an inherent flaw in the system of governance.
An individual’s voting power is rendered mute when it stems from a lack of civic education. Democracy fails when the public lacks the education to make informed decisions.
Education Inequality
There is a widening gap between the educated and non-educated subsets of the American populace. According to a 2020 study, this gap is present not only between income levels but also over party lines. Voters are 10% to 30% less likely to be aware of stories unfavorable to the political party they affiliate with.
Americans are not only uneducated on their country’s political affairs but also unaware of their ignorance. In a 2022 study, those who performed the worst on political tests also exhibited the most confidence in their political knowledge. In practice, this results in the less educated often being the loudest when politics are being discussed.
Education itself has a direct impact on election results. A phenomenon referred to as the diploma divide describes the shift of college-educated voters towards the Democratic party, with non-college voters aligning with the Republicans.
This isn’t to say being a liberal is the correct, educated position to take. However, it serves to reason there is a direct correlation between college education and voter turnout. Republicans cannot rely on voters who lack a civic education to win elections, sacrificing a necessary pillar of the democratic voting process.
It has been suggested that this is the result of college brainwashing. Assuming this is the case, the answer lies in changing the way education is approached, not avoiding higher education altogether.
The Role of the Media
Democracy is a longstanding tradition, yet only now has it begun to truly showcase the system’s shortcomings. This can be traced back to the funnel of misinformation that has plagued American media.
Digital news consumption has outpaced traditional news media, unleashing a new avenue for misinformation to spread. This becomes incredibly problematic when every major news site subscribes to a political bias.
A left-leaning voter cannot be considered more educated than their counterpart simply because they watch more CNN, and vice versa. Americans are held prisoner to whatever their main source of news is.
Fox News, a right-leaning news network, was forced to pay upwards of $785 million for spreading misinformation in 2023.
There are ways to protect oneself from misinformation, but they are time-consuming. Fact-checking every facet of political news one consumes is a luxury that most Americans do not have.
Presidential Campaigns
As November inches closer, voters have been subjected to Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns. Unsurprisingly, both corners are littered with lies.
Harris has bounced back and forth between policies, leaving Democratic voters confused if she is the left-leaning candidate they were promised. President Joe Biden wasn’t known for his honesty either, often twisting the truth to support a specific narrative.
When Trump took the debate stage with Biden in June, his performance consisted of more lies than truth. Lies regarding increased taxes and post-birth abortions defined the debate that night.
Americans cannot trust their politicians to inform them of their own beliefs, let alone educate them on the state of the nation. As presidential candidates, they are the most responsible for conveying accurate information. Americans depend on them to be the most accessible outlet for information.
Slippery Slope
The discussion regarding voter eligibility has always fallen under scrutiny. After all, there is no true way to determine what defines an intelligent voter. Even if there were, voting is a fundamental right. This makes it difficult to pass legislation regarding the form of a test.
Blocking Americans from voting will never be the answer. Rather, steps must be taken to address the increasing education disparity limiting democracy.
Public education must be reformed to raise critical thinkers capable of weeding through obvious misinformation. The media and politicians must be held more accountable for knowingly spreading disinformation.
As it currently stands, democracy lies at the mercy of whoever controls and distributes information. Partisanship is much less indicative of personal values than it is of wherever one chooses to consume political news.
For democracy to be fully effective, the public must have access to accurate information.
If these criteria are not met, all that remains is a country that pretends to give its people decision-making power, while failing to represent the will of the people themselves.
Matthew Timpa reported and wrote this story as a journalism student with the University of Utah’s The Daily Utah Chronicle. His article is part of U.S. Democracy Day, a nationwide collaborative on Sept. 15, the International Day of Democracy, in which news organizations cover how democracy works and the threats it faces. To learn more, visit usdemocracyday.org.
Craig Cheney • Sep 15, 2024 at 10:29 pm
You need to demand a tuition refund. You are obviously a product of the latest incarnation of what public education produces in students. You have been told and shown what to think instead of being taught how to think. I beg you to change. Until Americans excel in the subjects of Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, History and Economics we should shun the false religion of social studies. I commend you to read books written by Victor Davis Hansen, Thomas Sowell, and Peter Schweizer.
John Drabik • Oct 3, 2024 at 4:18 am
I’ve noticed the same bias (and, frankly, misinformation) in other posts by the author. E.g., a recent article claimed the Supreme Court is [quote] “out of control” because it recently reversed a few decisions from the past 50+ years of radical interpretations, legislating from the bench, and ignoring the Constitution (like the 10th Amendment, which states powers not enumerated “to the United States” are reserved “to the States, or to the People”.)
As for “lies”: they are currently more likely from the left because the press fails to hold the left accountable. “Fact checking” is little more than the biases of a few perpetrated on the many. Lopsided “fact checking” is dishonest. Democracy, or a Republic, makes no difference in this regard: people should demand accountability. People are free to read, hear, and/or believe what they wish. And to say what they wish, per the First Amendment (btw, Walz was wrong about yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater. The actual measure is liability for damages caused by such an outburst, not yelling it per-se.)
As another example, in the VP debate, Walz said Vance’s abortion claims had been “debunked” at the Presidential debate. That is false. In fact, Trump’s comments were proven to be accurate. He and Vance correctly stated that Minnesota law allows abortions without limits or safeguards. You can look up the text by searching for Minnesota + PRO + abortion (PRO is the name of the bill Walz signed, in 2023). Attempts to amend the law to block partial-birth abortions, give third trimester protections to the unborn, or to protect women by requiring third trimester abortions be done in hospitals, were all rejected despite overwhelming voter support (~70%) for such limits. Radical “representatives” dishonored the people and the “indirectly” [elected] concept that the author confuses with “democracy”. The law also specifically *repealed* former requirements that “reasonable measures consistent with good medical practice” be provided to viable births or surviving victims of botched abortions. Instead, the law now only says “care”, which practitioners take to mean “palliative care”, i.e., comfort care. Radically, the law applies to *all* babies, even those born alive and in good health. There are confirmed cases – but even if it was only one such case, claiming, as Walz and Harris do, that there are “none” is a lie.
The most egregious problem with the current article is that it fails several tests of rational thinking. For example, it states that “the only requirement for democracy” is vesting the power to vote with the people. That’s incorrect. First: voting is flawed in many (and mathematically provable) regards. Second: mobs (aka, democratic majorities) have made egregious mistakes in the past. Third: as noted above, elected representatives often fail to represent the wishes of those who elect them. But the article goes on to state “an individual’s voting power is rendered mute” (it should be “moot”, by the way) when it stems from lack of education, and that democracy fails when the public lacks education to make informed decisions. Incorrect. In a democracy, every age-qualified citizen gets to vote: the rich, the poor, the intelligent, the not-so-intelligent – all of them. Note the word “citizen” in there. And note that there is no provision regarding “intelligence” or “education”.
Worst of all, no attempt was made to define “misinformation” or who will determine what it is or is not!
The back-handed slap down to those who disagree with others is not due to “education inequality”. One can easily argue that many supposedly “well-educated” people make poor voters because they lack common sense (such as determining how costly programs will be paid for), or have failed to study the Constitution (the foundation of jurisprudence in the USA), or who haven’t taken a full-spectrum Civics course, or who have never had a course in (or a job that requires) actual critical thinking, or who refuse to take the time to learn about the issues and/or the candidates.
The slanted “digs” are obvious too. Under Role of the Media, he refers to Fox News as “a right-leaning news network” (despite many left-leaning staff), but fails to call CNN a left-leaning network. Bias is misinformation.
Yes, there are ways to protect yourself against misinformation. Perhaps if one is not willing to make that effort, they should be denied a vote? That’s what the article implies. Then the author should speak out in favor of voter integrity laws. E.g., illegal immigrants should be barred from voting at any level – not only due to their illegal status, but because by the author’s own measure, they do not understand the issues, the country, the culture, and in most cases, the language. For many, even their “knowledge” of the candidates is little more than a reflection of freebies they’ll be given. So they can’t accurately assess or avail themselves of data to make an informed choice.
During the VP debate, Walz also lied (to use the author’s measure) when he claimed voting records have been available on an “app” since 1994. A brief review of history shows that early phones (and “app stores”) with an ability to download “apps” did not appear until 10+ years later (first iPhone: 2007, first Android: 2008). A lie? Just badly informed? Either way, it’s misinformation. As is covering up stolen valor, abandoning troops under his command, or his whereabouts (or “when-abouts”) regarding China trips.
It is true that “blocking Americans from voting will never be the answer”, yet the article seems to be setting the table for that. Corrupt media, corrupt politicians and their minions worked to keep RFK Jr and Trump off of ballots (illegally, and foolishly – all they had to do was read down a half page to Article 6 of the 24th Amendment, for example. I.e., SCOTUS got that right too). So it’s undeniable that democrats tried to block 50% or more of the people from voting, while enabling illegal aliens to vote. Based on flimsy cases, misinformation, abysmal interpretation of law, poor reporting, and censorship including un-Constitutional gag orders. The author should eschew government censorship, whether direct or by proxy ( such as by out of control big tech or activist judges) if he’s serious.
Our Republic is not a democracy. It has a few aspects which are similar, but even cursory examination reveals large differences. For example, it is not just that we elect representatives; it is that mechanisms like the Electoral College were designed to prevent mob rule, or the will of a few states being forced on the others. Or the added concepts of balance-of-power and separation of powers. Failure to recognize important differences is a failure in critical thinking, and writing articles like this, with it’s own dose of misinformation while accusing others of failing to apply critical thinking, is, at best, disingenous.
CraigLOVER • Oct 23, 2024 at 12:37 pm
I like craig