Democracy is not perfect but is there anything better?

In 1947 former British Prime minister Winston Churchill made this remarkable observation: “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…”

A conservative, Churchill warned about the rise of fascism and its military buildup in Germany before he became prime minister in 1940, only to be voted out of office in 1945 having led Britain to victory in the Second World War.

A Renaissance man, Churchill was a historian, writer, painter, and politician, serving his country as prime minister after winning re-election in 1951. In his later years, he warned against other totalitarian states, especially Russia.

What I appreciate about him is his honesty. He did not pretend that democracy was perfect or had all the answers, only that among all other forms of government it was the best. Why? Because it was grounded in certain fundamental principles the chief of which was that people choose their own leaders, not leaders choosing their own voters.

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately amid all the debates about the future of our democracy, some claiming it will lose out to more authoritarian forms of government, others that it needs reform to survive.

I don’t know which vision will shape the future, but I do believe in some basic principles of democracy that seem worthwhile keeping.

1>> We have the obligation and right to freely choose our representatives. We are a republic after all, not a pure democracy. We need free and fair elections, not ones bought by the richest. Voting is the heart of the democratic process. Surely, we have the ability to ensure every citizen has access to voting, but that all votes are counted correctly.

2>> No one is above the law, including those who administer and enforce it. The law should be equally applied and fairly enforced.

3>> Our primary mission is to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, providing opportunities for every citizen to strive to reach his or her goal. To do so, we need to heed Churchill’s words that no form of government is perfect or wise. Even as we formed our constitution, we excluded women and people of color. Over the decades we have sought to form a more perfect union, one that extends not limits voting.

4>> We are a work in process, not a finished product. Nothing is guaranteed for the future, not even democracy. The story, whether true or not, is that after the constitution was written, someone asked Ben Franklin what they had created, and his response reportedly was: “A republic if you can keep her.”

With all its imperfections, America’s democracy is worth correcting and expanding as a beacon of light to those nations ruled by one party or person. The question I ask myself these days to keep our republic is not only what I am doing to help it but what politicians or political parties really are doing to perfect our democracy not diminish it.