We Can’t Save Democracy Just by Voting

There’s a rhetorical commitment to political democracy, but it amounts to nothing if we don’t democratize everything and allow people to have a direct say in the things that affect their lives. This is not a problem we can fix just by voting every two years, and democracy shouldn’t end at the ballot box—our workplaces should be run by unions of workers, corporations by cooperatives or collectives of workers or the state in some instances, and our economy by public interests for socially productive purposes.

“There’s a long tradition and body of work in economics and democratic theory that shows you can’t just have democracy in the political sphere—you have to extend democracy to other branches of life like the economic sphere,” said Thomas Hanna, research director at The Democracy Collaborative. “This tradition of economic democracy, of extending people’s abilities and rights into economic decisions that impact their lives, their family’s lives, their community’s lives, you just don’t get that with private ownership.”

• Publication date: 2022-07-11

• Parent publication: Vice

• Publication URL: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5vg5x/we-cant-save-democracy-just-by-voting