Promises of Democracy - Essay Example

Promises of Democracy The Constitution of the United s sets out the premise for a democracy, as follows: “We believe that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed….”(www.yale.edu). The promises of democracy that are inherent within these words include equality and freedom. The achievement of true democracy was also one of the major goals of the mission of Dr. Martin Luther King, who initiated the civil rights movement to gain the equality promised under the Constitution for black Americans. This essay will examine the need to make these promises of democracy real and tangible for American citizens. From the perspective of the founding fathers of the Constitution of the United States, pure democracy was the objective to be attained, through equality and freedom for all its citizens. During the early stages of the Civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King clearly stated: “We are here because of our love for democracy, because of our deep-seated belief that democracy transformed from thin paper to thick action is the greatest, form of government on earth” (www.blackvoices.com). In this, Dr. King was clearly articulating the need for the principles and values of democracy to not merely remain inscribed on paper, but to also be actually evidenced in practice. He was articulating the realities of the day, when despite the promsies of equality enshrined in the Constitution, black Americans were not treated equally with the whites and discrimination and repression was exercised against them. In the same speech, Dr. King also went on to say that Ameircan democracy also allows individuals the right to protest in order to secure their rights. In order to make the promises of democracy real, it was necessary to ensure that they were reflected in the lives of the people. The existence of inequality and injustice therefore contradicts the principles of democracy and suggests that its promises are not being adhered to. Thomas Jefferson himself was convinced that blacks could never be integrated into mainstream American society because of “deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinction which nature had made; and many other circumstance, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race- To these objections, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral.” (Jordan 168). Yet, despite this prevailing climate, the premise of the Civil Rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King was the fight to ensure that the promises of democracy did not remain on paper but were transmuted into the lives and hears of the American people. In order to ensure that the promises of democracy were made real to the people, it was first necessary to ensure that democracy was secured within the home terrain, by ensuring that the minorities enjoyed rights and freedom on par with the majority. The very existence of the institution of slavery was antithetical to the principles of true democracy. The Civil Rights movement was successful in finally breaking the chains of oppression of slavery and discrimination and America has made great strides in this area through the introduction of equal employment initiatives and the elimination of segregated bussing and education. Although the Civil Rights movement represents a significant victory for the establishment of the principles of democracy, there is still a great deal more to be done. Racism and inequality have by no means been eliminated from the country. Equality still does not exist and it may be noted most glaringly in the field of education, where there are serious problems of learning in urban centres for the minority races. Sweeping reforms are necessary in order to ensure that urban education is improved such that black students are not marginalized in poorly funded inner city schools.(Wang, 1996). There is still a great deal to be done to ensure that the promises of democracy are made real to American citizens and the prevailing inequalities are eliminated. The wage and income inequalities in the United States have increased considerably since the 1970s and the increasingly capitalistic American policies have only wideneced the gap between the rich and the poor. (Piketty and Saez, 2003). This indicates that the democratic polciies of equality are not being adhered to and increasingly America is following a policy of neglecting the goals of the founding fathers. Welfare programs that help to support the weaker sections of society are being eschewed in favor of more tax breaks for the rich, thus further propagating the inequalities and belying the promises of a true democracy. This trend to g against democratic principles may also be noted in America’s conduct of her external affairs policies. America had maintained a policy of isolationism with regard to the political affairs of other nations. But after the Spanish American War of 1898, Americans imbibed feelings of Social Darwinism and Protestant triumphalism, which led them to believe that the country had won the war because God was on their side seeing as they were citizens of a morally and economically superior nation. America could have opted to strike a deal with Spain in 1898, but the objective was not merely to propagate true democracy, the objective was to extract some advantage from Cuba. “It was more conflict fought to resolve a single question: Who would control Cuba? Conditions in Cuba led to the war, Cuba was the battleground, and Cuba was the prize"[Kinzer, 46]. Since the Spanish American War, America has been demonstrating signs of a move towards imperialism rather than the democracy advocated by her founding fathers. In another speech, Dr. Martin Luther King has reiterated the importance of protest in enforcing the promises of democracy. This speech was given in response to the ongoing protests against the Vietnam war. Dr. King offers the view that the emergence of Communism “is a judgement against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions we initiated.”(www.hartford-hwp.com). While democracy offers a promise of freedom to all individuals, imperialism represents the repression of minority interests and the promotion of inequality. Albert Beveridge, an erstwhile senator of Indiana summed up imperial initiation in America with this statement: “American factories are making more than the American people can use; American soil is producing more than they can consume. Fate has written out policy for us. The trade of the world must and shall be ours” [Kinzer, 34]. America’s commercial and political influence became a global force that was reinforced after its victory in the Cold War. As to public opinion in America after the Cold War, Johnson stated: “Many Americans simply concluded that they had ‘won’ the Cold War and so deserved the imperial fruits of victory. A number of ideologists began to argue that the United States was in fact a ‘good empire’ and should act accordingly in a world with only one dominant power” [Johnson, 3]. The present day American policy demonstrates the same imperial policies that rise in direct conflict to the promises of democracy. For instance, the press were allowed to film the Iraq War, but were required to show the commander –in-chief of the U.S military their footage before it was broadcast on American television. With regard to this Johnson claimed: “It [the Military] felt more confident that nothing would be on display it did not want reported and that there would be recruitment advantages to bringing one of America’s new, antiseptic wars into the nations living rooms” [Johnson, 116]. Thus, even the freedom of the press, one of the most sacred rights of a democracy was compromised for the sake of the Army. This suggests that ther promises of democracy are increasingly being undermined and there is an urgent need to return to the original principles that were set out by our founding fathers, to ensure that the promises of democracy enshrined in the Constitution and trsnslated partly into reality through the efforts of stalwarts such as Dr., Martin Luther King, are not sabotaged and compromised for ever. References: * Beyond Vietnam: a time to break silence. April 4, 1967. http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html; August 15, 2008 * Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm ; August 15, 2008 * Johnson, Chalmers, 2004. “The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic”, Macmillian Inc. * Jordan, Winthrop D, 1974. “The white man’s burden: historical origins of racism in the United States”, Oxford University Press * Kinzer, Stephen, 2006. “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq”, Macmillan * Martin Luther King speech at the Holt Street Baptist church at the start of the Montgomery Bus boycott”, http://www.blackvoices.com/black_news/canvas_directory_headlines_features/feature_article/_a/martin-luther-king-speech-at-the-holt/20060111182609990001 ; August 15, 2008 * Piketty, Thomas and Saez, Emmanuel, 2003. “Income inequality in the United States: 1913-1998”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, CXVIII(1) February 2003. * Wang, Margaret C, 1996. “Developing strategies for improving education in the Inner Cities”, CEIC Review, 5(1), September 1996. 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