Why Is Great American Democracy in Capitalistic Society Falling Apart?

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By Yu-Long Ling

Professor Yu-Long Ling, a Franklin resident, an expert in foreign policy

American elections have always been exciting, colorful, and expensive. During the recent campaigns for the primaries, there has been a lot of “mudslinging,” personal attacks and name calling (liar, con artist, small hands means small…), especially on Republican side. This negative campaigning has reached to lowest level in history, which, unfortunately, portrays our society as divided and disordered.

Once the election is over and the results have been tabulated, the winner usually celebrates by giving an acceptance speech and the losing candidate gives a concession speech offering support and cooperation to the winner. The whole elections process moves from chaos to order. The peaceful transition of power is anything short of a miracle compared to many regions of the world. However, this is not the case in this election. The current presidential primaries have created lots of unprecedented events which we have never seen before.   The political storm may be soon to come.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders calls his campaign a revolution. His campaign is based on his theory that 1% of super rich controls the majority of wealth, so they are the source of all troubles.   On the Republican side, front running Donald Trump’s campaign focuses on blaming scapegoats for the downfall of America. The only way to make America great again is to get rid of them.   Donald Trump recently warned the country that riots will occur if he is not nominated. Revolution and riots are acts of violence which fundamentally contrary to the supposed peaceful democratic process. How is this happening with the most advanced democracy in the world? Many Americans have started to realize that something is terribly wrong and that our democratic process has moved down the wrong path.   The problem is we don’t know why. In this column, I will try to explain my perspective on why we are where we are in the political process.

Allow me to use Taiwan as an example to illustrate my point. In the 1950s, the most popular slogan during the election campaign was: “I am the representative of the poor.” Because 95 % of the people in Taiwan were living under poverty level, the simple and direct slogan was effective.   Because of Taiwan’s current financial success, any serious politician running for election today would never use this slogan if she/he wants to be elected. It has no real meaning, as only less than 5 % are classified as living under the poverty level.   The largest percent of the population is considered as middle class. Taiwan has learned a valuable lesson from American democracy. As long as the size of middle class is larger than the upper and lower class combined, democracy will be sustained and stable. This theory was the work of the great philosopher, Aristotle.

According to Aristotle, the middle class serves as the buffer between the rich and poor. Without a large middle class, the rich will suppress the poor or poor will revolt against rich. In democracy, political power comes from the election. It is a numbers game.   The middle class will likely vote for the middle of the road and not either extreme. In this setting, the middle of the road decision-maker will understand the aspirations of rich and the frustrations of the poor. This is the main reason why democracy has worked so well in this country – our conditions fit well with Aristotle’s theory.

The middle class in America is shrinking.   In 1971, the middle class represented up to 61 % of American population. According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data, in 2015, the middle class represented 50% of the population.   This is a very significant decrease in the middle class numbers and clearly shows that the middle class is losing ground in our society.   When this happens, Aristotle’s theory becomes more relevant.

The reality is that we live in a capitalistic, democratic country. Democracy and capitalism are complementary.   If things work accordingly to theory, we produce a large middle class. However, in recent years, while the rich have gotten richer and poor have gotten poorer, the middle class has also gotten poorer. Many factors have caused this shift including cheap labor overseas, rising health expenses, high wages, etc. The unfortunate result is that many middle class families move to the lower class. .

To make matters worse, in order for the super rich (1%) to continue its advantage, they will use their resources to control their targeted politicians through contributions and other means. As a result, democracy gradually changes to oligarchy. This is what is happening today.   Further, the lower class gets more frustrated and angrier with the establishment, but is generally powerless because of a lack of resources and organization. Most notably, Donald Trump has used this to his advantage by inciting the public. He is pouring gas on the fire. We may not all take Donald Trump seriously, but we should heed his warning. The last thing we want is rioting.