Democracy
Providing a space for debate and allowing for the airing of different points of view is an integral aspect of a democracy, which must facilitate the free interchange of information and opinions in order to provide an informed foundation as the basis for legislative action. Such an approach to political culture is not without its challenges, however, which a mature democracy must face in order to function smoothly and without raising political disagreement to violent extremes. Observers, activists and legislators of the Democratic Party attested to the truth of this point after experiencing the tumult that attended the passage of President Obama’s landmark program for the overhaul of the United States health-care system, saying that the place for civility and safety within the American Democracy must be defended against those who besmirch its institutions out of senses of political calculation and desperation.
The Democratic legislator John Lewis, a Representative from Georgia, spoke of having racial slurs for African Americans shouted at him by activists from the so-called “Tea Party” movement as he left a legislative planning meeting a day before the House passed President Obama’s health-care bill. Lewis’ reputation as a distinguished exponent of democracy began with his work during the 1960s for guaranteeing civil rights for African Americans throughout the American South, a movement that is now remembered as a crucial moment for extending the benefits of democracy more widely to all Americans. His account was verified in news media sources by fellow Democrative legislator Andre Carson, a Representative from Indiana, who also heard racist insults being aired by protesters against the Democratic health-care bill. Expressing his sense that the democratic process is degraded by the free airing of comments of this toxic nature, Lewis said that the encounter reminded him of key moments of activism from the 1960s, such as the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. In his words, “I’ve faced this before. So, it reminded me of the 60’s. There’s a lot of downright hate and anger and people are just being downright mean.”
The dilemma raised by these occurrences of hate-speech stems particularly from a vital component of a government based on the concept of democracy, which is the extensive latitude allowed for the exercise of free speech rights. This issue was raised by another unpleasant encounter experienced by a Democratic legislator, in this instance Emanuel Cleaver, a Representative from Missouri, who spoke of being attacked with a racial epithet on the same day, as well as being spat on by one protester, who was promptly arrested by local police. In order to avoid the perception of imperiling democracy through the penalizing of even overly fervent political protest, Representative Cleaver declined to press charges against the protester.
The widely shared sense that this debate has aroused the uglier side of the democratic process was bolstered by another similar incident, showing animus based not on racially but sexual preference-based discrimination, in which Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts was confronted with homophobic epithets by health care protesters.
