Why We Democracy

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

By Lisa Saye
July 15, 2024

Countries are not cages. They are historical and traditional refrains of social and political customs with their constitutions as the lead melody. A country’s social music is either practiced or observed, but never both at the same time. For any ideology, there are many lanes a country can travel on the same road. Some lanes are more narrow while others are more substantial in size. This is true because humanity’s line of sight is broad. Sight is the fuel of change and change is one reason why we democracy.

There are a host of reasons why a country or governmental entity may choose to be a democracy. For one, life’s sketch is imperfect. Life is not some comedic reading of a series of events over bad horror music. It is not a depletion experiment. Life has been and it always will be the current dispensation of reality, pain and promise. Our individual line of sight may not be broad enough. And when that happens, we look around for collective resolutions that are fair, representative and sustaining. The current and seemingly ongoing distractions we are dealing with right now have us at an intersection where the meaning of going forward is being questioned. Forward is indeed a great direction, but forward and learning is a much better way to go.

Democracy is renewable. It hasn’t reached its half-life and all the better for us, right? Public administration is one of democracy’s brightest structural legacies. We have built college and university departments and degrees around public administration objectives. We have constructed metrics and envisioned data outcomes and solutions based on public sector deliverables. Within an environment of shifting semantics, public administration is more than going through the motions and more than a performance. Public administration is the solution to the weak and intentional air-brushed policies of separation and insincerity. Public administrators understand the degree to which doubt leads to the indifference that leads to neglect, misuse and corruption. They also understand that rising to the occasion is not a one-time thing. Delivering for citizens is a daily march that has no final form. It is the will to overcome artificial politics and underdeveloped social constructs. Democracy is not in retirement, neither is the work that public administrators do every day.

The democratic architecture of government allows the work of public administrators to radiate through generations of communities. It is the kind of work that has weathered substantial disputes and temporary policy disruptions. Unlike so many of the new roads being built, the path in getting this done is not always clear or cleared. Efforts are impacted by bureaucracy, politics, tension and mismanagement. Efforts are impacted, yes, but not defeated. Why? Because democracy’s social space is limitless. It is a space that is inclusive and it is a space that exists anywhere freedom and justice are allowed, permitted and insisted upon.

As citizens, our victory comes in knowing that our destinies are collaborative. Whatever we may want to believe at any corner of our journey, know that no one mission is separate from the whole. Policy seeks harmony, or at least it ought to. We meet to meet the challenges of life and to help each other to overcome those that seem too large. Our goal as public administrators has to be to embrace a solid notion of balance and truth. We must realize that today’s dysfunction is a shard from a broken mirror of the past. Its arguments are little more than decades-old residue that should have been long decided and firmly archived. Democracy’s memory bank of triumphs is infinite. Let’s keep it that way.

But, why do we democracy? Why do we come back to it again and again? Well, for one, folks tend not to abandon a system that is built to work. We democracy because it still represents the steady and most successful rebellion against many of our governmental inadequacies. We democracy because it is the gentlest corrector when we stray into weeds that we pretend are roses. We democracy when we stutter, when we’re sick and when we’re menaced by the same. We democracy because we respect the struggle it took to get where we are. We democracy to remind ourselves of that struggle. We embrace democratic principles because they are the beacons that continue to light our way. We democracy for our very survival. Our choices are wrapped up in the very aspects of the practice of election and selection and democracy is still the vessel of choice. 

The ^@ Road’s road image was taken 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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