What is Democracy?

Do twelve loud voices matter more than quiet thousands?

Last night Mayor Jason Pierce and the Eagle City Council held a town hall meeting, opening up the floor to any resident who felt moved to speak. I spent the evening with my family, streaming the meeting on the TV. From what I could tell, about a dozen activists from SOS Eagle were there, maybe as many as twenty - Eagle City Hall needs new high-resolution cameras. They spoke with one voice in opposition to everything the mayor and council stood for. A common refrain from these citizens was we are not being heard.

Mary Hunter, one of the founders of SOS Eagle and a Democratic Party PC, complained that she and six others had spoken at the last city council meeting in opposition to a new trash collection contract, but the council nevertheless voted to approve it. She seemed offended that the mayor and council had disregarded her wishes. This attitude was repeated with most of the speakers that night. They were outraged that the council was taking actions that they personally opposed. They spoke as if they represented the entire city of Eagle. One man, speaking against the proposal to annex the Avimor development, claimed that nobody he talked to supported the idea.

I was reminded of the apocryphal quote from journalist Pauline Kael after President Richard Nixon won a 49-state landslide in 1972: How did he win? Nobody I know voted for him. The actual quote is slightly more nuanced:

“I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know.”

Pauline Kael, December 28, 1972, Speech to the Modern Language Association

Pauline Kael (Source: Austin Film Society)

Either way, the point is that she lived in a bubble. Many of us live in bubbles, and part of critical thinking is recognizing that fact. The internet gives us the opportunity to make connections and form communities based on everything from sports fandom to an enjoyment of civil war reenacting, but we must remember that such communities are not necessarily reflective of the real world. SOS Eagle has built a small movement opposing Eagle’s mayor and council, which has fooled many of them into thinking they speak for a majority of citizens.

This is obviously not the case. Jason Pierce won the 2019 mayoral race with nearly 52% of the vote compared to merely 37% for the incumbent Stan Ridgeway. Brad Pike and Charlie Baun won 28% and 25% of the vote, respectively, in a five way race. Because voters selected two candidates on the ballot, that meant that Pike and Baun combined for 53% of the vote. The remaining two council races in 2021 were even more decisive, as Helen Russel and Melissa Gindlesperger each won more than 35% in a four way race - over 70% of the combined vote. Clearly, the citizens of Eagle support the mayor and council, no matter what a dozen or so activists happen to believe.

The left is always talking about democracy. When protestors took an unauthorized tour of the US Capitol, we were told that our democracy was attacked. When President Trump called out potential irregularities in the haphazard voting system in 2020, they said he was undermining democracy. I remember when the Democrats failed in their attempt to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in 2012, and a college-aged activist cried on TV saying, “Democracy died tonight!”

For them, democracy does not mean the will of the people, rather it has come to mean a magic word that is synonymous with left-wing progressivism. In their minds, democracy means Democrats win, no more, no less. Once you understand this, it makes perfect sense that a dozen activists can come to a town hall and claim the council is ignoring the will of the people because they did not get their way. They do not believe that the solid majority of voters who elected the mayor and council count. The 60% positive responses the city got on their survey regarding a proposed outdoor shooting range don’t count either. What actually counts as the voice of the people? Why, a dozen activists coming to a meeting, of course.

Keep this frame in mind as you watch the news. Remember when fifty-one former intelligence agents signed a letter saying that the Hunter Biden laptop story was “Russian disinformation”? That sounds impressive until you realize that they were all hardcore anti-Trumpers who were desperate to get such a man out of power. When you read headlines that claim experts say this or that, consider how you are being manipulated. When you hear pundits claim that American democracy is at stake, or that we must defend Ukraine because of democracy, remember how they define that word.

The will of the people is not manifest in those who are the most outspoken, whether in town hall meetings or on social media. Rather, the will of the people is found when we who are politically engaged do the work of meeting our neighbors, registering people to vote, and electing representatives who enact our will. I am reminded of how communist societies attempt to control the flow of information, to convince citizens who may harbor doubts about the system that they are alone in their heretical beliefs. Yet when people start conversing freely, they often find that there are more of them than they thought. So it is with conservatism. Even with 24/7 propaganda from news media, entertainment, public schools, and corporate HR departments, there are still millions of people who believe in traditional American values.

Defending and retaking our communities begins with talking to your neighbors and reminding them that they are not alone. Richard Nixon’s 49-state landslide came after he called upon America’s silent majority to make their voices heard. In communities throughout America, from Idaho to northern California to Texas to upstate New York, the silent majority remains strong. Left-wing activists want to make our cities and towns into the next Portland or San Francisco, and it is up to us to stop them.