Was that clear enough for you?
Of course not. What is with you and wanting details? I don’t care if your teacher thought you should ask more questions. No, I don’t mind you asking questions. I mind you asking for details.
Fine, whatever. Let’s get this over with.
I’m a cranky old lady in a barbecue apron with stiff wings! What did you expect?!
No, expressing crankiness is not the reason we have freedom of speech. It is an added perk. So is asking too many questions so stop abusing your freedom, capiche?
Look, ‘democracy’ is overblown… What? No, I’m not anti democratic! Why? Because there are no true democracies and a few of the ones that claim democratic principles are missing the mark by a country mile. Everyone saying ‘lookie, we’re a democracy’ is kidding themselves. Democracy is utterly unworkable beyond the city-state stage and doesn’t work well even then as the city-state inevitably gets too large.
In reality, the US is a democratic republic. We elect representatives rather than vote individually on every issue. Democracy plays a role in deciding the decision-makers rather than directly making the decisions.
No, it’s not an academic distinction. Who’s explaining this stuff? Alright then, hush up and let me get this done.
If you want to see a lopsided picture of what a true democracy would look like with say four and a half million people, take a gander at the State of Alabama. Yes, really – boy, you’re on my last nerve! That’s better. Alabama’s previous state constitution was ratified in 1901. It was finally replaced in 2022. At that time it had a whooping 977 amendments. Why? Because every county tax issue required a constitutional amendment. Choctaw County wants a new school? Well, let’s run it by the voters two hours away in Mobile and five hours away in Huntsville and all the other voters while we’re at it. Oh yes, those amendments had to be voted on by the entire state!
Now you know why Alabama is on its seventh constitution.
Of course it’s ridiculous. It’s also very democratic. Alabama let EVERYONE vote on issues that had no impact on those people at all. Remember, only 977 amendments passed. If they had all passed the 1901 Constitution would have been longer than an encyclopedia – the kind without pictures.
Democracy gets a mite complicated when you have millions of people involved. If we were still using the one representative to 30,000 citizens rule we’d have 11,000 members of the House of Representatives. You think Congress is slow now, try getting 11,000 reps to agree on anything!
It would be more democratic but a lot less effective. Efficacy isn’t the highest goal of governance but we do need to get something done eventually.
So we balance democracy with representation. There are no perfect systems but democratic republics are pretty danged close.
Looking under the hood, this thing absolutely gushes freedom. No, nothing’s leaking, it’s supposed to be that way. The whole purpose for electing representatives is that they are to carry out the People’s business and to govern in the authority granted to them by the People. If those people then have no say in what happens next or how good a job the representative did or what the representative should do or what our government should or should not do, it kinda defeats the whole ‘democracy’ bit.
Democracy is technically government by the people. We use it to refer to the People controlling their representative government. No one seriously advocates for a true democracy but several hundred of millions are very keen on that controlling our representative government thing. That’s what we usually mean by democracy in the modern era. That kind of democracy, like its purebred kin, cannot survive without freedom and most especially Freedom of Speech.
How the heck do the People decide what is best if they can’t freely and safely discuss things? Especially things that are painful, difficult, enraging and important – the very kinds of things government has to deal with daily. We can’t tell our representative to get with the program if we aren’t even allowed to discuss the program. Even if we could, with no public square – no free exchange of ideas – it won’t be long before there aren’t just no more good ideas but no ideas at all.
We don’t elect perfect people. We would if we could find any but so far we’ve had better luck with unicorns. Not sure painting that rhino pink was the best idea, though. Unicorns, yes, perfect people, nope. Since the rhino can’t vote, we can’t elect him, either. That leaves us with normal, imperfect people which is kind of a bummer since they tend to make mistakes – a LOT of them.
But we do get to tell them, sometimes even politely, that they messed up. We can also share our ideas, both individually and in groups, with our representatives. We get to suggest legislation and to oppose what we consider bad legislation. None of that is possible, let alone effective, without the Freedom of Speech.
Don’t think the Founding Fathers were under some illusion that public discussions would all be courteous and genteel. Nah, they’d sat through way too many of the fist shaking, yelling, cussing and screaming discussions to believe that Freedom of Speech didn’t have a drawback. Yet they made it Amendment Number One because for all the hurt feelings, bad manners, dumb arguments, major disagreements, fussing, fighting and downright stupid things we’d end up saying, the Freedom to speak our minds safe from repercussion and legal consequences was more important. Freedom of Speech gives us more than just a way to blow off steam; it makes government of the People, by the People and for the People possible.
It’s so crucial that you can identify modern democracies by how they protect the Freedom of Speech. So far, only the US of A has enshrined that protection in its supreme law of the land – its Constitution. The US has lots of flaws but it remains the most democratic nation state on Earth by the simple defense of the Freedom of Speech.
Oh, the US needs to sharpen up on that account. Censorship in the public square, even the electronic one, is anti-democratic as it gets. All those rights and freedoms rest on the critical Freedom of Speech. If it goes, the others will follow. Because ultimately, we decide what we are, and are not, going to allow our government to do.
We decide by talking to each other. Being Americans, we decide by fussing and fighting over the dumbest stuff. We holler about it over New Year’s. We cuss about it on President’s Day. We discuss it a bit more politely over Mother’s Day so Mom doesn’t get a switch. Then we’re tussling over it at the Fourth of July picnic. Tossing candy at each other over Halloween, praying about it loudly over the Thanksgiving meal, and ruining Christmas about it only to realize we stopped disagreeing about most of it by Father’s Day.
No one said freedom was peaceful and quiet. Well, no one sane, anyway. One way or another, we figure it out, either in the halls of Congress or on Election Day. But we only figure out it, whatever it happens to be, because we have so zealously protected the Freedom of Speech that makes government by the People a reality.
Zealous, not jealous. No, that’s fine, they can be interchangeable. It just means we defend Freedom of Speech fiercely.
See, Freedom of Speech defines modern democracy. Without it you only have a hollow shell, a façade, just an imitation of the real thing. Government by the People is messy, inefficient and almost completely thankless. It’s also the best kind of government there is.
It’s even worth having to listen to your annoying questions.
