Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Tensions Between Some Tahoe Residents and Wildlife Workers Become Unbearable

8 hours ago

California Republican Leader Calls for ‘Two State Solution’ Amid Redistricting Fight

9 hours ago

Three Dead in Minneapolis Shooting, Including Shooter, Justice Department Official Says

10 hours ago

Israeli Tanks Close in on Gaza City, Trump to Chair Meeting

11 hours ago

Trump Says Soros and His Son Should Be Charged With RICO

11 hours ago

Wall Street Opens Muted in Countdown to Nvidia Earnings

11 hours ago

Fresno Leaders Voice ‘Full Support’ for Pismo’s Restaurant Manager in ICE Custody

1 day ago

Poll: Katie Porter Holds Early Edge in California Governor’s Race

1 day ago

Just 38% of Americans Support Trump’s Use of Troops to Police DC, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds

1 day ago

California Farming Couple Seeks $300 Million for Aspen Estate

1 day ago
No Politician Alive Can 'Save Democracy.' That Job Is Exclusively for 'We the People.'
Joe-Mathews
By Joe Mathews
Published 1 year ago on
March 8, 2024

Share

Democracy is not something you save. It’s something you do.

Most democracy exists at the local level and is best understood as “everyday people governing themselves.”

Democracy is not about voting for one powerful person, it’s about decentralizing decision-making power.


Please don’t save democracy.

Photo of Joe Mathews

Joe Mathews

Opinion

If you’re a politician — stop promising to save it.

Just stop trying.

Because you can’t. Democracy isn’t something you save. The sooner we stop talking about saving democracy, the better off democracy will be.

Our mindless recitation of “saving democracy”— everyone from President Biden to Sascha Baron Cohen has pledged its rescue — demonstrates how little we understand about the governing systems that organize our lives.

To start, the words “democracy” and “save” don’t fit together.

Democracy is not a penalty shot saved by a goalkeeper. Democracy is not a dollar saved in the bank. Democracy is not a file saved in Microsoft Word.

Democracy is not even the migrant saved from drowning in the Rio Grande.

Democracy Can Be Confusing

It’s easy to get confused about democracy’s meaning because we use the word “democracy” promiscuously. We use it to refer to things in politics or government with which we agree. We use it to describe the status quo in countries that think of themselves as democracies.

We also use “democracy” to refer to our post-World War II liberal order, supposedly superior to all other systems, even though that order often protects military and corporate powers that undermine democracy. We use “democracy” to mean elections, even though many countries with autocracies stage elections.

After 18 years of convening conversations about democracy around the world, I have found a more useful definition of democracy. Democracy is best understood as four words: Everyday people governing themselves.

When you think about democracy this way, you realize that democracy isn’t something you save. It’s something you do — with other people. When people in your neighborhood or city or nation are governing themselves — deliberating, making decisions, implementing policies — you are in a democracy.

Thus, democracy is a do-it-yourself enterprise. The philosopher G.K. Chesterton observed in Orthodoxy that democracy is like blowing one’s nose or writing love letters—something “we want a man to do for himself, even if he does them badly.”

So, when you judge whether a particular place counts as democratic, consider democracy as a spectrum, with “everyday people governing themselves” as its most democratic pole.

Local Is Where It’s At for Real Democracy

Soon, you’ll recognize that most democracy exists at the local level, in the smaller entities where it’s easier for everyday people to get together and govern. As Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “True democracy cannot be worked by 20 men sitting at the center. It has to be worked from below, by the people of every village.”

Unfortunately, when asked whether they live in a democracy, people today don’t think of their city, but of their nation-state. They usually answer the question based on whether their national leaders are fairly elected and respect constitutional norms.

The word “democracy” has become a synonym for a safe destination, the political-economic equivalent of a comfortable sofa where we can lie down and relax. From this sofa conception flows the idea that democracy can be “saved” — from authoritarians or foreign powers or misinformation that might tear us from our sofas.

But real democracy is not a sofa. It’s not cushy. Democracy, at least democracy on the spectrum of “everyday people governing themselves,” is not about voting for one powerful person. It’s about decentralizing decision-making power and handing it to regular people.

For this reason, President Biden’s pledges to protect democracy — coming from an officeholder who can govern by executive order and take military action without public deliberation — will never be credible.

Get Off Your Couches

Democracy requires us to get off our couches. It also involves faith and competition, which is why it resembles religions or sports more than a system of government. Democracy is maintained through practice. If people stop going to Mass or listening to the Pope, Catholicism dies. If people stop throwing balls at rounded bats, there is no baseball.

So, if you value democracy, do it—wherever you can. Let the kids in your local sports league vote for the all-stars, instead of the coaches or parents. Let workers and customers make big decisions at your company. Create assemblies of everyday citizens to write your city’s ordinances.

And don’t waste another moment hoping your leaders will save democracy. Get out there and do it yourself.

About the Author

Joe Mathews is columnist and democracy editor at Zócalo Public Square, and publisher and founder of the planetary publication Democracy Local.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Israeli Official Accused of Nevada Sex Crime Ordered to Appear in Court via Zoom

DON'T MISS

Think You Can’t Afford College? Go Online and Get a CalKIDS Scholarship

DON'T MISS

US CDC Director Ousted Weeks Into Job

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

DON'T MISS

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

DON'T MISS

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

DON'T MISS

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

DON'T MISS

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

DON'T MISS

Israeli Foreign Minister Saar Says There Will Not Be a Palestinian State

DON'T MISS

All UN Security Council Members, Except US, Say Famine in Gaza Is ‘Man-Made Crisis’

UP NEXT

Think You Can’t Afford College? Go Online and Get a CalKIDS Scholarship

UP NEXT

US CDC Director Ousted Weeks Into Job

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

UP NEXT

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

UP NEXT

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

UP NEXT

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

UP NEXT

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

UP NEXT

Israeli Foreign Minister Saar Says There Will Not Be a Palestinian State

UP NEXT

All UN Security Council Members, Except US, Say Famine in Gaza Is ‘Man-Made Crisis’

UP NEXT

Trump’s Tax Bill Expands 0% Capital Gains Eligibility in 2025

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

3 hours ago

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

4 hours ago

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

4 hours ago

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

4 hours ago

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

4 hours ago

Israeli Foreign Minister Saar Says There Will Not Be a Palestinian State

4 hours ago

All UN Security Council Members, Except US, Say Famine in Gaza Is ‘Man-Made Crisis’

5 hours ago

Trump’s Tax Bill Expands 0% Capital Gains Eligibility in 2025

6 hours ago

Second-Highest Unemployment Rate Still In California

6 hours ago

Trump Holds Gaza Policy Meeting With Blair and Kushner, White House Official Says

6 hours ago

Israeli Official Accused of Nevada Sex Crime Ordered to Appear in Court via Zoom

An Israeli official accused of trying to meet a 15-year-old girl for sex outside Las Vegas has been ordered to appear via videolink next wee...

2 hours ago

The flag of the U.S. state Nevada is seen in this illustration taken, August 21, 2024. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
2 hours ago

Israeli Official Accused of Nevada Sex Crime Ordered to Appear in Court via Zoom

3 hours ago

Think You Can’t Afford College? Go Online and Get a CalKIDS Scholarship

Susan Monarez, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

US CDC Director Ousted Weeks Into Job

Mario Garcia is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for August 27, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Mario Garcia

Law enforcement use K-9 dogs to search a nearby neighborhood, after a shooting at Annunciation Church, which is also home to an elementary school, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. August 27, 2025. REUTERS/Tim Evans
4 hours ago

Shooter Kills Two Minneapolis Schoolchildren in Church, Injures 17

Bobby Salazar motorcycle gang fire restaurant Blackstone fresno insurance fraud
4 hours ago

Did Fresno Restaurateur Bobby Salazar Commit Arson? Feds Lay Out Their Case

A 17-year-old boy was shot and wounded in Hanford, and police arrested two juvenile suspects in connection with the shootings. (Hanford PD)
4 hours ago

Hanford Police Arrest Two Teens After Shootouts Leave 17-Year-Old Wounded

Susan Monarez, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 25, 2025. (Reuters File)
4 hours ago

US CDC Director Being Ousted Weeks Into Job, Washington Post Reports

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend