Educated people vote

I add my voice to Erna Buffie’s Think Tank piece “Democracy is a civic election issue” (Aug. 13) by asserting that democracy is a public education issue. Put another way, this fall’s municipal and school board elections are a test of public education — educating democratic citizens who appreciate our democratic inheritance enough to take responsibility for renewing it.

Voter turnouts for elections in Canada are abysmal. Where there should be 100 per cent participation, it often approaches 50 per cent federally and provincially, 25 per cent in local elections. The explanations given seem insufficient and unsatisfying, as are the reasons given by those who decide not to bother.

Some say they feel disempowered and alienated from the political process, feeling they have no say in governmental decisions which rule their lives.

Others appear resigned to the fact that, if they were to speak, they would simply be passed over or ignored, choosing not to vote because their votes, like their voices, make no difference and count for nothing. Still others say they’re too busy or just don’t care.

The common theme is that they take for granted that the right to vote or not will always be there, assuming that they can enjoy, without effort, the benefits of democracy.

What’s happening to the south of us should give us all pause to reflect on the fragility and frailty of the political rights and freedoms we currently enjoy. The SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) America Act currently stalled in the Senate, having passed the House, is just the last in a series of measures to deprive hundreds of thousands of American citizens of the right to vote or to have their votes count.

It follows sometimes successful attempts at redrawing electoral boundaries to front-load districts in favour of one of America’s two political parties and to eliminate mail-in voting.

Even though there is no evidence of non-citizens voting, proposed restrictive preconditions and voter registration requirements would further disenfranchise huge swaths of the population, most notably among people of colour, recent immigrants and the poor.

In addition, some southerners, both in America and Manitoba, are exploiting low voter turnout in school board elections to pursue narrow religious agendas such as Christian indoctrination, book banning and gender discrimination. Once elected or acclaimed, these so-called local representatives are emboldened to flout civility and the law to the exclusion of those who don’t conform.

Buffie provided a heads-up and a call to participate in local municipal and school board elections for the sake of all. It reminded me of the political maxim, “All politics are local,” attributed to a past longstanding leader of the American House of Representatives, Tip O’Neill. I also think that O’Neill was right that our “local” is the canary in the coal mine of our democracies. Based on voter turnout, it is on life support.

Political success rests on connecting to the daily lives of voters where they live. Most political decisions have their origins, or represent a response to, some human concern experienced locally. Moreover, in order for a federal or provincial policy or law to be meaningful it must be validated and implemented in local communities.

School boards and municipal councils have a major role to play — known as “local control, within the law,” in the unique contexts which make up their constituencies — which make voting for them all the more important.

Perhaps even more significant is the fact that the centralization of power in state governments and their leaders has meant that fewer people are making decisions for more people further from those whose lives they affect. This development might even be the best explanation for presumed citizen apathy and failure to vote. Nevertheless, voting knowledgeably and responsibly is a small price to pay for the democratic advantages we enjoy and many people in the world don’t.

Democracy is the only kind of government in the world which depends upon an educated populace for its survival, health and continuity. It is the only form of government which has, as an ideal, the sharing in governance of the community with all citizens, everyone per se a member of government — in other words, government “for the people, by the people.” It also requires constant renewal, which is one of the main reasons we created public schooling.

Democratic citizens require the understandings, abilities and attitudes which make them ready, able and willing to assume their civic roles and responsibilities. To vote locally means our public education was not wasted.

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba.