The Voters in Democracy By T.S.Khanna

Foundation for Better Government

(www.bettergovt.blogspot.com)

July 9, 2012.

The Voters in Democracy

By T.S. Khanna, July 9, 2012.

 Our zeal for democracy, as the best form of government, has thrown us out of accuracy in judgment to notice the systemic weaknesses.

As the strength of a chain depends on its weakest link, the quality of democracy depends on its voters.  In our present system, most voters are ignorant about the political issues and their resolutions.  Their collective judgment never rises above their collective ignorance. 

Both dogmatic ignorance and scientific knowledge act as compost for their further growth.  Scientifically oriented, knowledgeable societies are progressive, dogmatically oriented, ignorant societies are retrogressive.

The ignorance of voters impairs the roots of democracy. To improve the quality of democracy, the dogma of the citizen’s right to vote as the “birth right” needs to be replaced by the empirical learning that voting right be regarded as a privilege to be earned by citizens with equal opportunity.

To earn the voting right, the requirements may include but not necessarily limited to

·       Citizen by birth ( to avert the possibility of cultural invasion by immigrants);

·       Citizen of good standing, free of any felony conviction, bankruptcy, mental disorder, and any addiction that may affect analytical thinking and rational judgment;
.    Must be at least 30 years old;
.    Must have paid Federal & State Income tax for at least five years;

·       Certificate of completion of a prescribed course on (a) democratic government, its structure, its purpose, its operations at Federal, State, and Local levels, (b) responsibilities, powers, constraints, and accountability of elected officials.

 These requirements should protect the voters from the highly exploitive and manipulative modern techniques used by the political parties.