Democracy and You
I’d like to talk to you today about democracy. Everyone knows what democracy is, so I shouldn’t have to define it. Easy, right? Actually, everyone has an idea of what democracy is. But let’s ask an expert. Someone like George Orwell. Yeah, that George Orwell; he who wrote Animal Farm and 1984. In his famous essay, Politics and the English Language, he wrote, “In the case of [the] word…democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy.” Not so easy, after all.
The Greeks like to take credit for inventing democracy. After all, the word comes from the Greek demos “the people”, and kratia “power, or rule”. In ancient Athens, they had direct rather than representative democracy. But direct democracy is unwieldy, and so representative democracy emerged as a practical matter. We elect representatives, in what we call a republic; power is still with the people (at least in theory), but it is an elected group of representatives who run things.
In small towns, such as Sprague, we have as close to a direct democracy as you can probably get. If you are an adult and live in the town or pay taxes, you get a vote; this happens, for example, with a vote on the annual budget, or for some other single important question; we call such a vote a referendum.
The most basic representative government in a municipality such as ours is through boards and commissions. We, the people choose who we wish to have represent us on financial decisions, land use decisions, and on matters related to our children’s education. Typically, the voters get to choose between one or another candidate, who is elected to a term of years. How voters (electors) make their choice can be dependent upon how well informed they are as the result of candidates campaigning before the election. Candidates need help getting elected, and they rely on organized groups to help. The Sprague Democratic Town Committee (DTC) is one such group. The DTC will help the candidate get publicity, pay for costs that may be incurred during the campaign, and also help with campaign literature that informs the people, known as the electorate, so they may become familiar with the issues. A candidate endorsed by the DTC may be better able to get elected than running for office without such a support network.
If you would like to know more about becoming a member of a board or commission, or are interested in helping the DTC in its efforts to recruit candidates for public office, feel free to contact us. Contact information is available on this website.