Nurturing Democracy

‘Politics is broken’ claims the online post. It’s not completely wrong and some of the responsibility for that lies with politicians. But that’s only part of the problem. There is a responsibility that lies with us as well.

I have some sympathy with what Churchill obviously experienced according to the famous quote. My own 5 minute conversation with a man in his late fifties occurred shortly after the Brexit vote. Having mentioned the tricky issue of the Irish border, he responded that ‘the Irish are never any trouble.' Clearly he had slept through the 70s and 80s.

Plato and the Beast

The ancient Philosopher Plato had a radical solution to the lack of understanding shown by some voters - just get rid of democracy and put the Philosophers in charge. Some days it is tempting isn't it? Yet democracy is worth fighting for. We all have some responsibility for it; like a fragile flower, democracy needs to be nurtured.

In one passage Plato likens the people in a democracy to a large and powerful animal being kept by a trainer - the politician. Because of the size and strength of the animal, the trainer ends up thinking about how to keep the animal happy and calm rather than the more important question of what is in the best interest of the animal. So modern politicians might toss us a soundbite or redirect our anger.

I'm not sure Plato's analogy is entirely right - human beings unlike animals have the ability to reason and reflect. We are capable of being better than that. However I have to grudgingly admit that he has a point. The more we behave like an irrational mob, the more the politicians/trainers throw the equivalent of unhealthy snacks to keep us happy. Yet if as an electorate we become a more informed and thoughtful creature then our politicians may be able to offer us a better quality of debate.

So what can we do?

As uncomfortable as Plato’s conclusion is, it is not hard to have some sympathy with his reasoning. We are not as politically aware as we could be and our awareness often only extends to repeating the sound bites of our own tribe or the newspaper headline we half read. So how can we make sure that we are able to play our part?

1. Be informed - we have a hard won right to vote but it is important to couple that with a responsibility to be informed. If newspapers are your thing, get a quality one. Please don’t buy the s*n, or the other tabloids. Most have owners with an agenda and routinely lie, misrepresent stories, or present half the case. (You might like to google who owns the Daily Mail for instance). I know it's boring but watch the news on TV, or listen to quality radio such as Radio 4. If social media is your thing, follow a variety of political commentators and journalists including those from a different side of the spectrum to yourself. Fullfact.org is great for fact checking and is impartial. You might also find out a little more about the values of the main political parties and think about where you are on the political spectrum. A beginners guide is here

2. Be Critical - the ability to think critically, weighing ideas before coming to a conclusion is a much neglected art. Without getting too technical, this involves arguments. An argument is an attempt to persuade that has a conclusion (what you want me to believe) and a reason/reason(s) (why I should believe this).

   Here is an argument

   '(R) Dogs bite people and (R) people being bitten is a bad thing, (C) therefore we should ban dogs'

   When arguments are presented ask yourself

   - Are the reasons true? (you might think that only a few dogs bite or even that some people deserve to be bitten!)

   - Does the conclusion follow? (even if you agree with the reasons, you might think there are other ways of dealing with the problem)

   - Are there any assumptions/things that are missing or not thought about?

   At times, speakers will provide evidence to back up their views: ask yourself the following questions

   Corroboration - do other people generally confirm this? Or is it disputed? (almost all people don't think the royal family are lizards!)

   Reliability - is this person typically reliable and trustworthy?

   Expertise - how much does this person know on this specific subject? (why is a random celebrity trying to tell teachers how to teach?)

   Bias and interests - what is this person's political/religious view? do they have something to gain (financial or position) from making you believe this?

   More on Thinking Skills here

3. Be involved - once you are informed and have reached thoughtful conclusions, you may want to get involved. For bad things to happen, all that is usually required is for the majority of people to do nothing. So get involved: a first duty which doesn't cost anything, other than a few minutes, is to use your vote. Almost every election at any level in the UK could have had a different outcome if every one eligible to vote had done so. You might object that you don't really want any of them but this is not like choosing a marriage partner; the lesser of evils is at least a better choice than the other options. Getting involved might include writing to your MP. You can do this via write to them. All correspondence is communicated to them and they assume that if they get several letters/emails there are an even larger number of people who feel the same way. You might even feel that you want to join a party once you’ve found your tribe

4. Be respectful- politics can be a mucky business so they say. Again to some extent this depends on us. Some people will say or write quite vile things particularly from behind the safety of their keyboard. We do not have to descend to their level. Although it doesn’t always feel like it, most politicians, like other public servants, are doing what they believe are the right reasons. They deserve our appreciation and respect even if we strongly disagree with them on a few issues. It takes all of us to raise the level of discourse. Most people have figured out that in other walks of life we get further by engaging courteously and calmly rather than aggressively shouting the odds, so it would be strange if this didn't also hold when dealing with others in the political realm.

   
   

   The above things might not seem much, but if we all make the effort to be informed and thoughtful; we might begin to see a better quality of debate.