‘Democracy Store’: Bringing U.S. Values to the Marketplace

The expansion and renovation of local malls (MainPlace and The City) are welcome news to shoppers. But in the bankruptcy’s wake, we should consider setting aside some space in our malls that is devoted to improving citizenship.

The need to do so is everywhere. America has the lowest voter turnout of any industrialized nation. Only around 55% of eligible voters actually vote in presidential elections. Turnout in midterm congressional elections is around 40%. And in local elections for say, school board, turnout can fall as low as 12%, as it did in the last race for the Board of Trustees for the Orange Unified School District.

Two-thirds of our electorate decided to sit out Measure R (the sales tax increase for bankruptcy recovery), arguably the most important ballot initiative in decades. Similarly, in the most recent election in which county voters were asked to decide the future of the El Toro air base, less than half the eligible voters participated (43%).

How far does turnout have to fall before we can no longer call ourselves a democracy?

As citizenship education classes have been dropped as requirements in high schools and colleges, people have become appallingly ignorant of the most basic facts about government. These trends are even worse among new arrivals, who often come from countries that do not share our democratic traditions. The rest of us--including those who are paid to read and write and lecture about our political system for a living--are often simply too busy with our jobs and families to be as informed as we would like.

The main goal of a “democracy store” would be to make informed participation easier. People would be able to vote, register to vote, pick up information, sign petitions and talk with others about the issues of the day. Representatives from interest groups, the political parties and the media would be able to fill booths, if necessary on a rotating basis. This could also be a relaxed and informal place where voters could meet with public officials and candidates. To those who don’t care to stop in, the democracy store would be a reminder of the value our community places on citizenship.

Why the mall? The most obvious reason is because that is where the people are. As MainPlace has replaced Main Street as the center of our community, the locus of political and social activity needs to shift. This is why it isn’t uncommon to find police stations, post offices or merry-go-rounds in modern malls.

Second, a sizable amount of taxpayer money goes into building these malls. The rationale for investing public money is that the sales tax revenue and new jobs more than make up for the public funds that are invested. Nevertheless, the health and well-being of a community depend on more than its economic prosperity. This is one of the reasons schools and churches do not have to pay taxes. Democracy requires similar support.

A final reason is that everyone knows where the malls are! On one election day, I got lost on the way to the voting booth. I finally found it: a brown box inside a junk-filled garage of a tract home in an obscure subdivision. The small, tattered red sign on the lamppost, “Vote,” didn’t do justice to the lives that have been lost at home and abroad defending that right. What does it say about the value we place on informed participation when it is easier to find out what is playing at the Cinedome than it is to figure out where to vote?

Some would argue that people can learn about politics simply by watching “Meet the Press” or C-Span. Vote by Mail also promises to reduce the costs as well as improve turnout. After all, what could be easier than filling out your ballot in the privacy of your home? These are important innovations, but they aren’t sufficient to get the job done. First, democracy shouldn’t be a spectator sport, although television makes it so. While we can learn some things from certain television shows, the range of opinions is often quite narrow compared to the spectrum of beliefs that exists on most issues. For example, most of the people who appear on the television talk shows are white males who hold positions in government or a related industry such as the press, and live and work inside the Beltway. Their focus is generally national or international.

Second, democracy requires that people test their thinking in the marketplace of ideas and thereby subject it to inspection and criticism. We may choose to abandon or modify our views, or be reassured that we were right all along. That can’t happen alone, in front of the television set; it requires other people.

The democracy store doesn’t have to be that big, perhaps the size of a jewelry store, and certainly not as big as one of the half-dozen new cinemas planned for Main Place.

It’s fun to shop at the malls. But the loss of $1.6 billion in the Orange County investment pool suggests that we need to pay at least as much attention to choosing public officials as we do to picking out shoes.