Bumper Sticker Analysis

Democracy is not a spectator sport. A bumper stickers popularity is measured by the extent it catches the spirit and general attitudes of the times. This slogan "Democracy is not a spectator sport" is unfortunately not likely to resonate with large sector of the modern population. For too many, the Democratic process has become just that. We are spectators who elect representatives to go to the government buildings and send us money, benefits, and social programs.

The idea of the great value and cost to operate a successful democracy has been lost to many Americans.

Thomas Jefferson's understanding of the cost and commitment to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness was best articulated when he reminded the early Americans that "The price of freedom is constant vigilance." Democratic nation is said to be a "free" nation, but that is not guaranteed by the title "democracy." Democracy is a form of government in which a substantial portion of the citizens participate in ruling the state and every citizen is given the right to affect the direction of the country.

A democracy is distinct from government control by a small, elite social class or group, or even by a single person. In a direct democracy, citizens vote on laws in an assembly. In an indirect democracy, or representative republic such as the United States, citizens elect officials to represent them in government; representation is typical of most modern democracies.

The essential feature of democracy, as understood in the Western world, is that citizens be sufficiently free to speech and assembly, and express publicly their desires for the direction of their nation. An example of modern democracy is to form competing political parties where voters are able to choose among the candidates and differing ideologies of the parties. During much of the 20th century, forms of "democratic" governments arose which rejected Western style democracy as little more than the creation of capitalism.

They argued that "true" democracy is only possible with full economic and social equality, which can only be achieved by overthrowing the capitalist class and establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat (working class). The right to vote meant little, unless votes are equal and voters have the same influence. Like freedom, equality of treatment under the law is a method of democracy. Some theorists would add equality of resources, or at least equality of opportunity, to the ideal characteristic of democracy.

Such goals could conflict with the idea of economic freedom and certainly cannot be taken as a defining characteristic of existing democracies. Democracies are not easy to establish and possibly even more difficult to maintain. But these states departed from the identity of a democracy when the select few made rules for the majority regarding how the resources would be divided, and who would receive a 'more equal' share than the rest. This same trend now threatens to our democratic republic in the United States.

When people choose to be spectators, and allow a shrinking number of people to choose the rules by which government operated, those people who participate ultimately make rules in favor of themselves, and thus risk trampling on the rights of those who opt out of the process. The Bill of Rights contains the first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. This Constitution represents the protections for individual rights of citizens of a democratic nation. The Bill of Rights represents the most essential aspects which relate to democracy.

The early colonists came to understand that their individual rights were not secured unless they were specified and systematically arranged in constitutional documents. Also required for the survival of those individual rights was the will, and means to defend those rights from people who would attempt to take them for their own benefit.

The Bill of Rights declared that freedom, rights, and liberties of the citizen were not only qualities which the government would recognize, but that individual people has "natural" rights and freedoms granted to them by supremacy of God and the rule of law.

But only declaring these rights on paper would have meant nothing if the men who signed the declaration did not also vow their property, wealth, lives, and sacred honor in the dedication to pursue securing those freedoms from tyrannical leaders who would try to take them for their own benefits. Today, this slogan "Democracy is not a spectator sport" could be a rallying cry for Americans to get involved in the democratic system again. In our last national elections, less than 45% of the population voted for president.

In off year elections, when national offices are not at stake, the percentages have dipped below 40%. While the slogan is a needed rallying cry for our nation, and those who would put it on their car are likely.