Democracy: Humanity’s Masterpiece

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Lisa Saye
October 14, 2024

We are in a moment. This is not to be dramatic, but we are. Moments like this can be revealing, liberating and exhausting. A moment like this can remind us that as humans we are the recipients of a long legacy of wins, losses and more than a few close calls. When we make the mistake of thinking that this moment is singularly about us, we fail to understand its relevance in humanity’s timeline. That relevance is the fact that each pivotal event during these times are a part of the always unfinished masterpiece of history.

The strongest characteristic of democracy is its evaluative feature. How well democracy is doing at any given time provides a quick indication of the condition of a particular society. If democracy is rattled, that society is rattled. If democracy is strong, that society, nation or group has done the work that it takes to implement a lasting democracy. No nation accidentally does government good. Subsequently, no nation accidentally does government bad. Government is deliberate and its effectiveness or its ineffectiveness are deliberate as well.

What place does democracy hold in history’s timeline? Democracy is a part of history’s texture. It is an eternal life hack. It is the rough edges of the smoothest option of governance. Democracy is both a romantic and a realistic concept. It has outlasted changing ideologies, recessions, isolation and indifference. Democracy’s contributions to government predate anyone reading this and its contributions to the present and the future will definitely survive us. Its characteristics have been compared to those of our most beloved myths, but democracy is no myth. It finds a way out of war by finding ways not to get into them in the first place. No government or nation has been perfect in this particular regard which is why there is always a march toward the perfect union that is structured around democracy. And when serious, it is that union that is exemplified in a country or in a nation’s constitution.

A constitution’s words are a nation’s credible messenger. The words—the entire document is a country’s most notable historian. The U.S. Constitution is celebrated and admired around the world. The ability of the U.S. to absorb shocks and tremors and sudden changes is due in large part to the construction of its Constitution. It is a construction that more than a few countries and nations around the world have studied and have tried to replicate. Its strength is its arguable capacity to be both flexible and inflexible at the same time.

Having a stable constitution and adopting the best practices of democracy are not the only ingredients of good government. Good democracies plan for and operate the whole board, not just the plays that everybody sees. Monetary policies, inflation concerns, wage and job growth strategies, proper education, health and human services, global trade and global peace must be a part of the plans to meet the needs of the citizenry. Democracy is not a magic wand that one would wave and everything is fixed. It is the environment that helps to guarantee that equal concern, justice and representation are consistently considered. These considerations are a government’s finest administrative moments and ones that we should always strive to have with us.

Democracy is a masterpiece that is always current. In each era, generation or iteration, it gets more refined, more polished and more welcoming. Like the photo accompanying this article, democracy is an old door – recognizable, reliable and never locked. The center of our discourse on democracy should be the degree to which we recognize our moment and embrace our time as caretakers. That means that as public administrators we must use all of the tools in our wheelhouse to manage the fundamental shifts in policy as well as coming up with the ways to implement those shifts with the least amount of disruption.

A masterpiece can be created in the blink of an eye or over many years. Our legacy should be a democracy that is far superior to the one we inherited. We know we don’t live in dreamland. We also know that we won’t be able to answer every question every time. But, democracy is about trying to get it right and about the will to govern in a way that benefits all citizens. When we make the special effort it takes to care for the tenets and vital changes necessary to govern in a democracy, the result must be more than just a notion. It must be our proudest masterpiece.

The ^@ Masterpeace  art was painted and titled by Lisa Saye.

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Author: Dr. Lisa Saye served as Fulbright Specialist in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and as International Consultant for the United Nations Development Program in The Maldives. She also served as Chair of the Division of Social Sciences and Humanities and as Associate Professor of Public Administration at American University Afghanistan. Dr. Saye can be reached by email at [email protected].

 

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