A 4th of July Challenge to Democracy

A basic element of “democracy” is supposed to be that those who are affected by governmental decisions should at least have some input into those decisions.

Voting is a principal means of registering these decisions.

In an ideal democracy, all citizens would have the right to vote.  The natural result will be that they make decisions of which they approve, which benefit themselves and, secondarily, those of whose interests they also approve. This gives them some influence upon the governmental decisions which are made.  This is a positive result of how a democracy is supposed to work.  It is applauded, and even recommended to other nations.

However those who are not citizens do not have the right to vote.  This means they have no influence on any decisions which are made.  Any decisions made by government affecting those non-citizens are authoritarian.  This is the case whether those persons live within or beyond the borders of the democratic nation.  No democratic nation permits the voting by foreign nations on whether or not the democracy shall invade them or exploit their resources.  In fact the interests of the democratic citizens (by the democratic apologists’ own arguments) are in favor of such advantageous decisions.  The same is true when it pertains to the lives, possessions, and other interests of non-citizens; the whole weight of democratic rationale for the benefit of elections militates against the interests of non-citizens.

This is an inherent inequality built into nationalistic democracy.   Have a thoughtful 4th of July.