I. What is Democracy?

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘democracy’? Waiting in line to cast a ballot for a candidate you’ve heard about in ads that have flooded your mailboxes and email inboxes and appeared on TV? This idea of democracy as simply limited to the electoral sphere, although common, is flawed for many reasons. Democracy is best defined as control of a group by its members. Due to the influence of money in politics, intense political corruption in the United States, voter suppression, and the undemocratic nature of the electoral college, the government of the United States is far from a democracy. Representative democracy vests power in the hands of a few to make decisions for the many, which will always result in the will of the rulers, and not the will of the people. To solve this, we have to think beyond the traditional limits of political thought.

II. Democracy Everywhere!

The best way to ensure that the will of the people is followed in all places, not just in places usually dubbed ‘political,’ is to expand democracy past its limited form at the ballot box to every institution. Democracy must be spread into workplaces, into schools, into communities, and government. This is the only way to ensure that the will of the people is enacted. Workplaces should be democratized in the form of workers’ co-ops, housing in the form of tenants’ unions and cooperative housing, energy in the form of energy co-ops, communities in people’s assemblies, and more.
Although models vary, this would fundamentally mean that all of these facets of society – workplaces, housing, etc. – would be controlled not by people who ‘own’ them, or by people selected from these groups, but by all of the people within these groups, directly. Decisions would be made by consensus. This places power solely in the hands of those affected by the use of that power, whether they are workers in a workplace, people living in an area, citizens in a town, etc

III. Expand Democracy for Freedom

Placing decision-making power in the hands of those affected by said decisions gives people the freedom from domination. In traditional workplaces, shareholders and the board of directors are at the top of the workplace hierarchy, along with a CEO, who often imposes a managerial class to determine the decisions of the business. In democratized workplaces, workers collectively determine what occurs and how they spend their own time and utilize their company’s resources. Workplace democracy transforms workplaces from abusive dictatorships to liberated areas where people determine the use of their bodies. People will no longer be subject to decisions they have no say in. People will be able to join workplaces that they wish to be a part of, determine for themselves what to produce and how to produce it, and determine the division of the fruits of their labor.

IV. Expand Democracy Because it Just Makes Sense

Democratizing everything is not only freeing, it also makes sense. Managers and owners are divorced from the reality of working, and often do not know the most effective way to run things. For instance, many teachers are forced by managers, most of whom have never taught a day in their lives, to teach to a restrictive and unhelpful guideline. This is true not only in workplaces, but in every other system - mayors, for instance, cannot possibly run towns as well as the residents of towns, who deal with the issues and inequities of their situation daily, and thus know how best to deal with them. There are often people in power who mean well and wish to do well for their communities, but are so divorced from the realities of those they serve that they do not know what to prioritize. Spreading power to all affected ensures that their real needs are taken care of.

Democratizing everything would resolve several issues in our current society. Often in labor, but also in other sectors of society, hierarchical and undemocratic bodies must be regulated by more democratic bodies, usually local, state, or national governments. This occurs when state governments intervene on behalf of the working class, either to mandate better working conditions, higher wages, less pollution, or other benefits. Another example of this is the increasing regulation of police forces, whose undemocratic and separate-from-society nature causes harm. Democratizing everything will ensure that decisions made in workplaces and communities will be democratic and just from the beginning, necessitating no intervention from higher bodies of power.

Spreading democracy everywhere, into town councils and workplaces and beyond, will create a populace intricately linked with the decision-making that affects it. Citizens of this society will be allowed to participate in the important decision-making that fuels progress, but unlike traditional city council meetings, these citizens will have equal say and therefore, be more incentivized to show up and participate. Our current population is largely divorced from how things work – from our governmental organization to how food systems and water systems work, to the decisions and partnerships between local governments and local businesses. This gives the leaders of these aforementioned areas the power to act in their own benefit and not in that of the populace, and creates a citizenship that is not very knowledgeable or critical. Giving citizens absolute control over the decisions that affect them creates a populace more interconnected with its communities, more involved, more empowered, more knowledgeable, and more prepared to think critically.

Democratic participation encourages people to work together to solve their issues and resolve conflicts. In a democratic organization, there is no other way to resolve conflict than working things out together. People will have to make compromises and work together to get what they want. Cooperation will be the method of operation for society, making people that is more interconnected and cooperative. A cooperative culture will be more nurturing and supportive of everyone, a stark contrast to our bitterly competitive capitalist culture.