Democracy: USA vs. Sri Lanka
by Thepanis Alwis
Baddegama, Sri Lanka
Democracy is the holy political mantra of our times. Most countries of the world claim to be democracies, whatever their political systems and practices and some, like the USA, claim to be the greatest democracy. It has gone to war and occupied countries on the justification that it was to replace tyranny with democracy. So this form of democracy needs to be examined by comparing it with what Sri Lankans are familiar: Sri Lankan democracy.
Universal adult franchise
Universal adult franchise, meaning the right of all citizens to be allowed to freely vote at an election for a political representative of their choice, is considered the litmus test of political freedom and democracy. The US had voting rights for most White adult males by 1850 by eliminating property qualifications. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution of 1870 gave voting rights to Afro-Americans but many states denied coloured people voter registration. The 19th Amendment of 1920 gave women the franchise. But since voters need to be registered and each state had its own registration laws, many Southern states instituted ad hoc literacy tests and a poll tax and denied coloured people the franchise. As a result of Dr. Martin Luther King’s campaign, the 1966 Voting Rights Act tried to eliminate literacy tests, the poll tax and other state imposed barriers to voting rights against coloured people. Still, people charged with a felony are denied the vote and over 5 million people are disenfranchised on this ground[1]. Some states still make it difficult for the poor coloured citizens to merely register as voters. Currently, some Republican controlled states are trying to deny the poor and the coloured people the vote by stipulating that those registering to vote must produce their birth certificates, instead of the usually accepted government identity which is either the driving licence or state issued identity card, knowing that many poor citizens do not have birth certificates. The long history of racial discrimination against minorities negates the idea of true democracy for all citizens in the USA.
Sri Lanka (Ceylon, at the time) obtained universal adult franchise in 1931 after the Donoughmore Commission’s recommendations while it was still a Crown Colony. It was the only Crown Colony of the British to have this privilege. India got the full franchise only in 1947, with independence. There are no barriers to voter registration which is the responsibility of the Elections Commissioner’s Department. This department sends out tens of thousands of investigators to every household before an election in the country to register all adult voters. These voter lists are then available for scrutiny in every electorate at post offices so that anyone left out can request to be included. All recognised political parties also have access to these lists so that they can make sure that the names registered are genuine and also get the department to include people whom they know have been omitted or added by error.
Multi-Party elections
The existence of several competing political parties is said to be another proof of democracy. So China, with its one party system, is condemned. But the US has only two political parties, which are not very dissimilar in their basic political philosophy. The high cost of elections (it took the current President an expenditure of $750 million to win the election in 2008) and the dependence on heavy corporate funding for candidates ensures that newcomers and small-timers are effectively barred. In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, there are a dozen political parties at any election, including communist parties that would be prohibited in the USA.
Management and conduct of polls
In the USA, the registration and the polls are conducted by officers under the Secretary of State of each one of the 50 states. This official is an appointee of the political party governing the state and can be a partisan manager. In the 2000 Presidential election, the State of Florida falsely removed the names of 600,000 Coloured people, from the voting register, claiming they were felons, before the polls to ensure a Republican Party victory[2]. In many states voting machines managed by private companies are used and the public have no access to the manner in which votes are counted. They have to accept the figures given by the company hired by the State Secretary. In some states, voting machines have been found to be faulty, giving inaccurate results. Another expedient is to locate very few polling stations where the opposing party had the most supporters so that many prospective voters could not enter the polling booths before the closing hour. State government also take the chance to change electoral boundaries so that the concentration of voters for the opposition can be fragmented to the ruling party’s advantage. The Supreme Court of the USA also entered the fray in the 2000 Presidential election by prohibiting a vote recount in Florida when it seemed that one candidate would lose as a consequence.
The Sri Lankan system, inherited from the British, is far more transparent and is designed to eliminate this type of corruption. There is only one authority responsible for organising national or provincial elections: the Commissioner of Elections. This office is an independent non-political office. Once he is appointed he is answerable only to parliament, and cannot be removed by the government in power. This department is responsible for registering all adult citizens as voters. The department is responsible for the electoral boundaries. It conducts the polls and sets the rules of conduct for the participating parties. All political parties have access to his office in case of a grievance. If there are incidents of voter fraud, the Commissioner has the power to annul the results in an electorate and stage a new election, and this has been done at times. The Commissioner will instruct the Police Department before the elections to ensure the observance of election guidelines and security. Up to now, there have been no charges that a Commissioner has been openly partisan or corrupt.
In Sri Lanka the polling stations allow each political party to have its representatives to be present during voting hours to ensure that the poll is conducted fairly. Paper ballots are used and the counting of votes is also done in the presence of the representatives of the political parties. If the results are close, a candidate can demand a recount of the votes.
Influencing the government on behalf of special interests
Governments are elected to ensure the best interests of all its citizens, not partisan groups. In the USA the system is seriously flawed by the officially recognised position of registered lobbyists working for special interest groups that can afford the high costs of lobbying firms. There were 12,964 active political lobbyists in 2010, mainly centred in offices in K Street in Washington, D.C., who officially spent $3.51 billion to gain the attention of the 435 Congress representatives and the 100 senators[3]. The biggest lobbyists work for the multi-billion dollar corporations that funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to politicians to secure advantages for themselves. If anyone needs to get the attention of the political leadership, a lobbyist is a necessity: an individual voice or that of an indigent group will not get a hearing. Congress representatives also regularly send out letters to different local voters and groups asking for political donations ranging from $100 to $10,000. Even the Government of Sri Lanka has paid out millions of dollars to lobby groups to get the ear of the Washington political establishment, though it appears the anti-Sri Lanka LTTE lobby is better funded and thereby more successful!
Lobbying, paying for political campaigns and hosting politicians in return for special favours are considered an egregious form of corruption in Sri Lanka and all other democracies. There is no doubt that there are businessmen and companies in Sri Lanka who fund for politicians in return for favours. Sri Lanka has never been short of corrupt politicians, as is the case in almost every other country in the world. But it cannot be done openly and if these deals are exposed, they are open to charges of corruption in the courts of law.
People participation
The test of democracy is the level of citizen participation in framing the government and its policies. Of the number of registered voters in the USA, the number actually voting is around 43-63%. In Sri Lanka it would be on average 65-75%. Lower numbers were recorded when the terrorist group, the LTTE, prevented citizens in their areas from voting. Voters in the USA are not given a day off from work to cast their vote as in Sri Lanka. They may ask for two hours of unpaid leave from work to vote. Voter apathy is common in the USA, indicating many people have no confidence that their vote can make a difference to their lives.
In Sri Lanka, people are highly conscious of their rights and are demanding of them. If the prices of essential food items increase for some reason, even beyond government control, tens of thousands will fill the streets in cities to make their protest. Trade unions are often organising strikes for higher wages, university students are making special demands and university graduates tend to believe that it is the duty of the government to give them employment in the state sector. The trade unions in the USA have been progressively emasculated and reduced over the last decades. In the USA, with increasing unemployment, increasing shifts of wealth to the richest class and about 10 million families losing their homes because of rapaciously designed mortgages, protests are hardly seen.
Concern for the ordinary people
In a vibrant democracy, the government will show a concern for the long term development of its citizens, especially the more vulnerable population at the bottom of the economic and social ladder. In this respect, Sri Lanka has been outstanding. As far back as 1944 the government introduced free education in public schools and universities. This has resulted in the country having a large literate population, comparable with many developed countries. The country also established free health care through government hospitals where even a poor person can obtain a heart operation without charge. Midwives in every small grama sevaka division will visit households to advice mothers on maternity care and ensure timely immunisation of children against childhood diseases. This accounts for the levels of life expectancy in the country that mirrors that of developed countries.
In the USA, even the limited social services are now being reduced to trim public expenditure. The public school system run by states is free but university education is hugely expensive and beyond the reach of many. Medical services are the most expensive in the world and health services account for 18% of the GDP at present. Without insurance there is no access to medical care and since insurance is expensive, 45 million Americans are without medical insurance. There are ominous demands from the Far Right politicians to attack even the existing Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Sri Lanka is a poor developing country, which is now among the fastest developing countries in the world. The USA is the richest country in the world which is right now in a continuing economic decline. Democracy pays in the long run.
Thepanis Alwis
Baddegama, Sri Lanka.
10 October, 2011.