With the elections almost upon us, the nation’s attention is understandably drawn to what happens in the voting booth. Yet as crucial as voting may be to making our representative democracy work, what happens outside the voting booth is just as crucial.
I’d like to take a step back and consider five essentials to living in a democratic country that you’re unlikely to see mentioned in news coverage.
The first is transparency. Without it, voters cannot do the work our Constitution entrusts to them. With very few exceptions — mostly related to national security — information generated or gathered by the government should be public.
Why? Because if citizens do not know what’s being done in their name, and so are unable to pass informed judgment on the elected officials and administrations who govern on their behalf, then you cannot have a representative democracy worthy of the name.
The second essential follows naturally from transparency: accountability. It is part of democracy’s bedrock — and is vital to good governance. Officials have to be held accountable for their actions and their decisions, especially if they choose not to adhere to their obligations or to follow the law.
Our system also demands cooperation: between branches, parties, political leaders — really, all of us. We’re all in this together, and in the end, government cannot function if we do not work in a cooperative manner.
The fourth essential is actually a matched set: accuracy, integrity, fairness — these are traditional values that ought never to go out of style, even if sometimes they appear to be in eclipse. If those who operate our system speak untruths, lack basic honesty, and show bias, it will surely fail.
Finally, democracy rests on pragmatism. Strong institutions to carry out policy, highly competent government officials, realistic expectations on what can and cannot be achieved, civility, compromise, and respect for all views — these are the necessary ingredients to make progress in a complex, divided country.
Pragmatism does, however, need to be leavened with a little optimism. Governing effectively requires a mindset that progress is possible, that we can understand the problem, look at proposed solutions, make rational judgments about what should be done, and then get them enacted into law and implemented.
Lee Hamilton is a Senior Adviser for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government; a Distinguished Scholar, IU School of Global and International Studies; and a Professor of Practice, IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years. Send comments to [email protected].
