The Survival of Democracy – What has that to do with a Shore Education?
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:18
All over the world we see democracy struggling to some degree. In the United States, the friction between the two main parties is such that it seems they will go to extraordinary lengths to secure power, in the form of Members of Congress or President, for their own side. We see gerrymanders (deliberate erosion of the one person: one vote principle, again by both sides). We witness the politicisation of the legal system and a resort to populism, with some peddling unworkable, simplistic solutions to complex problems. We observe the attempt by both sides to disenfranchise those who may vote against them, and attempts to try to prevent some voting at all. It appears that America is fragmenting into two countries, those of Democratic party affiliation on the coasts and those of Republican adherence in the large central space between the Canadian and Mexican borders. Neither side seems able to talk to the other, except via confrontation. In the United Kingdom (and until recently in Australia), there has been a revolving door of Prime Ministers as their own side, with much help from the media, has torn down its leaders. In France, public policy is buffeted by citizen uprisings in the streets (France has quite a tradition of this, going back to the French revolution). In Russia, the hoped for drift to democracy has been expunged by Putin. In China, the liberal society which was expected to be ushered in as an outcome of growing economic freedom has been stopped in its tracks by President Xi. In Australia, we have seen the demise of the capacity of the public service to give independent and fearless advice, as they too have become politicised and, hence, give such advice at the peril of their careers.
It is often not realised that democracy in the West is a fairly recent development. Yes, it flowered for less than 100 years in Classical Greece (in Athens) but even here it was selective: women, foreigners who resided in Athens long term and slaves were excluded from the body politic. As democracy became more radical, it in effect ate itself, with the demos (all the citizens) making ill-informed decisions which led to the collapse of Athenian freedom (the Spartans were always waiting to seize control).
In more modern times, full democracy as we know it, i.e. enfranchising all of the citizens, irrespective of gender, social class or wealth, is only around 100 years old. It is delicate, fragile, easily lost in the face of demagoguery, tyranny or its own excesses. Amongst the approximately 180 nations in the world, less than 20 are considered democracies and the number is falling.
We should fear for the survival of democracy. It would appear that less than half the young people across the nation view democracy as the best form of government. One wonders what they might see as superior. Perhaps it is the charismatic, messianic leader. Unfortunately, sometimes such personalities are narcissists who lead into the abyss (think, in recent decades, Waco in Texas and the Jones cult in South America). Winston Churchill’s maxim went something like “democracy is the worst system of government, except for all the alternatives”. Preserving it matters because the culture related to democracy is fundamental to our freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to think independently, freedom of religion (or to maintain no religion). In that respect, the Far Right, some of whom are allied with residual Fascism, and the Far Left, some of whom are known for “Cancel Culture”, both lack a belief in free thought (which disagrees with them). Society is increasingly polarised; its members increasingly operate in echo chambers where they only relate to people who share their belief system. In part, an increasing dichotomy between the haves and the have nots, reflected in their political stance, is a fairly sordid derivative of our current brand of largely unfettered capitalism where the market dictates and the poor become poorer. Perhaps Newton’s physics, in his Third Law of Motion “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”, can be seen in the social sphere: where the dispossessed assert their antipathy to those they think responsible, by challenging the dominance of those they see as the Establishment, whether by direct action or at the polling booth. The American dogma of self-help is quite different from the Scandinavian concept of the Welfare State but, even here as in Continental Europe, the Far Right has been nourished by a backlash against European and particularly Middle Eastern immigration. The development of a disaffected underclass who believe they are shut out from the instruments of power, are losing control of their lives, are struggling to make ends meet and who don’t really understand why all this is happening, poses a considerable threat to the continuation of democracy. After all, democracy doesn’t seem to be working for them. It is easy, therefore, to be attracted to simplistic solutions which promise a great deal.
What can Shore do about this? I particularly like the poster in one of our Shore walkways which has the caption “what can one man do?”, featuring a photo of Nelson Mandela. The answer is sometimes an individual can achieve a great deal. The point is that the future of democracy may be won or lost amongst the young and their education. There is merit in applying the Greenpeace slogan at this point: “think globally, act locally”. Schools like Shore have a responsibility to uphold the norms of democracy, to assist our students to understand its fundamentals and machinery as they operate in Australia and, indeed, to help them understand and value freedom. We can do this partly by our instruction of Civics and Citizenship as this falls into a range of our Humanities subjects. We can model it by teaching and demonstrating to students a capacity to be curious, to interrogate opinion, to really hear others and to treat those with a differing opinion with respect. We need to help our students, where they disagree, to disagree well. This is a hallmark of civil society. As the Apostle Paul wrote: “if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). We can, as a School, embody some of the norms of democracy by encouraging student activity, for instance in appointing student leaders and in our Senior School initiative to come of establishing a Student Representative Council as a voice for the student body. My own teaching subject of History, whether Ancient or Modern, can dive deeply into the origins and failure of democracy in a number of civilisations and societies.
Does it matter? My response is: yes, absolutely. This is not a party political polemic but rather a concern for us doing our piece to preserve democratic norms, irrespective of how one may vote at the polling booth. In investing in our students, we are helping to preserve our future, our society, our freedoms and the ability to articulate an opinion without being incarcerated for it. This is strategic in our Shore education, as so many of our students will become leaders in many domains, including politics, commerce and the law. Our Shore “Building Good Men Programme” therefore takes on considerable significance. We want and in fact need them to lead well for the common weal, i.e. for the good of the body politic and, hence, for the nation.
Dr John Collier
Headmaster