♦️ This is part 1 of the series: Grown-Up Democracy — on voters, politicians, and who should be allowed to run the world. Read part 2 here: A Test to Vote? Could That Save Us from Narcissistic Maniacs? Read part 3 here: What Should Be Required to Become a Politician? Read part 4 here: The Narcissist Is Never Alone.
We cannot have a world where people who are lucky enough to have the right to vote use that right to put manchildren in power.
People around the world bit their nails and hoped Americans wouldn’t vote for a flailing, incompetent and narcissistic madman. Americans voted for the madman.
The election of Trump is the worst example, but far from the only one.
It happened in Brazil, it happened over and over in Hungary, Turkey and a string of other countries.
We cannot have it like this.
Yes, I know, many in not-so-democratic countries are pressured to vote for a certain candidate. They are threatened with unemployment, the withdrawal of benefits or even violence. Massive election fraud also takes place. But that is usually not the case the first time these children run for office. The window of opportunity to reject them may be open for years.
Too many voters don’t take that opportunity.
Russians elected Putin again and again until they had no say about anything anymore.
Some of these manchildren are more radioactive than others, from bellicose Putin to the clownish Berlusconi in Italy.
What they all have in common is that they only care about themselves. “Me First” and “Make Me Great Forever.” Still, the crowds cheer them into public service.
We must stop accepting that voters behave like that.
Where is the uproar?
Nonetheless, the media and public debate treat elections as if voters, by and large, know what they are doing.
“Here are the reasons why people prefer Mrs Blue over Mr Red.” – “This is why people think the Glorious Party is best for our country.”
This pretence goes on despite everybody knowing that uninformed, lazy, short-sighted and easy-to-fool voters are as commonplace and as old a problem as democracy itself.
In America, I noticed some mumbling about better education and more critical thinking the last time Trump won. In other countries, not even a mumbling can be heard. At least nothing that reaches major news channels.
In Britain, “What is the EU?” was one of the most popular search terms after the Brexit referendum. Apparently, millions didn’t have a clue what they voted for. And that would have been equally worrisome if the majority had voted to remain in the European Union.
We cannot have it like this.
But where is the uproar? Where are the campaigns for “Better Voters”?
This is a problem on a scale with obesity, drug addiction and every other public health issue combined. In fact, it is worse, since ignorant voters affect everyone, and every sector, and every corner of society.
This is how bad it is
Let’s compare ignorant voters to another societal problem to show you how bad this is.
Almost every country demands a licence to drive a car, and in most countries, you need to pass a driving test and a theory test. Driving licences were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century due to the huge number of traffic fatalities.
In other words, societies realised early on they had a huge problem. “People drive and cause fatalities. We cannot have it like that. We must ensure that people have the necessary skills to drive.”
Still, as citizens, we have the right to vote and to make decisions about healthcare, education, policing, energy, transport, air quality, trade, housing, food, water or anything that affects us every day, now and in the future. And we can do that without any training or proof of our skills—whatsoever.
So, what should we do?
The problem isn’t Trump or Orban
To have better voters, we need to stop focusing on the “wrong” leaders or parties and focus on voter skills.
The core problem is not the single candidate or political party. If we hadn’t had Trump and Orban, we could have had Rump and Gorban.
Educating voters is not about making people refrain from voting for him, her or them.
Educating voters is teaching voters how to make sound judgements. To consider longer-term consequences. To realise there are no quick fixes. To spot obvious lies.
To accept that no one is going to save you.
Educating voters is making them ask, “If I were to hire these candidates, what would I need to find out about them?” What background checks and references? “What questions would I ask them at a job interview?”
No matter how bombarded with fake news, upset about immigration, despairing over the cost of living or being told by their priest who to vote for, educated voters would not have voted for Trump.
Furthermore, he, Orban, Bolsonaro and all the others would not have run for office because they knew they wouldn’t stand a chance.
Unskilled voting is as old as Socrates, but it’s solvable.
It is time we, who want to be responsible citizens, take a deep breath and shout out in unison:
“We cannot have it like this”
We cannot let the well-being of our societies be dependent on those who cast their vote for whoever makes them feel good.
We cannot let our common future be decided by people who vote for something they have no clue about.
We cannot accept that millions of voters let themselves be fooled by me-me-me idiots. Whatever political flavour these idiots claim to have.
What we have to accept is that in a democracy, we will find heaps of me-me-me idiots who want power and admiration. Freedom also means freedom for idiots. The solution is not to lock them up, but to stop enabling them. We must learn not to give children power they cannot handle. And for that, we need more educated and better voters—tons of binned MAGA caps, better.
Thanks for reading! Please share your suggestions on what to do about ignorant voters.
