Practice Makes Perfect

Democracy has been under fire for some time now.

People are looking to blame the system for the current political state of our government and nation.

Some have looked past democracy and have claimed that this is all the result of capitalism.

Harry has his own opinions on this matter. So, as I sat down to write this email to you, I phoned Harry to discuss my thoughts.

He explained how he believes special interests have played a big part in subverting democracy with their massive lobbying and political contributions. The Supreme Court allows them be treated like citizens, which they’re not. They are mammoth corporations.

He related the example of how two billionaire brothers vetoed Mitt Romney from running in the last Republican primary…

That’s not democracy.

He believes that central banks have taken over free markets and rigged the system to favor the banks and the rich, while everyday people see little or no progress in their standard of living. The rich, major corporations and Wall Street then heavily lobby with their massive power.

“Capitalism works fine,” he told me, “when it has simple rules set by a democratic political system. That is not what is occurring effectively today.”

After reading more on the decline of democracy over the years, I agree with Harry. We can’t solely blame capitalism for where our nation and government is today. It’s been perverted by the lack of the democratic system to hold it accountable and to make sure that the people benefit, not just the capitalists.

Of course, there are a number of reasons as to why things are the way they are now. But right now, I’m only concerned with one…

It’s All in the System

Democracy is aimed to empower and place all on an equal playing field; each voice is meant to be heard, and the many get to vote on the most popular opinions/ideas.

It’s known by now that this system is not without fault… Just flip on the news and you can hear and see the many ways it has failed.

Yet, it’s not democracy that has failed so much as its we, the people, who have.

Democracy is a habitual form of government at best.

Selflessness is not an intrinsically human trait. Rather, it’s best practiced through repetition.

Do You Practice Democracy?

Over the years, civic leagues and student-run organizations have fallen from the limelight. There just isn’t much emphasis on their importance, and that’s in part because we no longer need to group together to see one another.

With social media and smartphones at our disposal, all friends and family are within reach. Public appearances have been replaced with lengthy phone calls while grocery shopping.

The process of election has been replaced with the process of selection. We pick who we wish to keep around rather than having to endure mingling with countless others, limiting our exposure to… well… anyone, really.

The sense of community has been whittled down.

Without the youth of each generation practicing and engaging in proper democracy — think student governments and that electoral process they go through — it will fall to the wayside and continue to crumble in its foundation.

In part, it’s why younger voters aren’t turning up at the poles as much. They don’t know why they should care because they don’t understand the importance of democracy, nor do they know the proper form of democracy that existed long before they, and perhaps even myself, were born.

Trust Me, This Matters…

Now, this has to get a bit political to get my point across.

The whole ordeal with Brett Kavanaugh is a portrait of how democracy is in deep decline.

Whether you believe Ford’s allegations or not isn’t relevant to my point, which is that the hearing revealed the great divide between Democrats and Republicans, even at a level where they swore to not be swayed by their political parties.

The great lack of transparency, the reluctance to hear the voice of the people who were willing to corroborate, and the long list of various other offenses add to the lack of democracy that was displayed in the hearing.

Politics have been engulfed by partisanship. The divide could not be greater. And this is something Harry talks about often… something he focused on in his book Zero Hour.

The Dent Way

I could go on and on about the many ways that we at Dent Research strive to give you the best, least bias research. But I’ll spare you the details and cut to the chase…

We aim to create a community that benefits our readers.

It’s why we have our annual Irrational Economic Summit (which is happening in less than three weeks’ time), and why we love hearing from you.

Though not all may be responded to, we chew on each nugget of information tossed our way and try to produce something useful from it.

Democracy may be in decline for the greater portion of our nation. But we still believe in it.

So, talk to us economyandmarkets@dentreserch.com.

We’ll listen.