Politics of Exclusion Continued From Page 3

Today, the primary question is, will African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Latino Americans have a voice and a vote in the United States Congress? In response, what the plaintiffs and some of the Federal judges are saying is that the under representation phenomenon experienced by African-Americans (Hispanic Americans and Latino Americans) is accepted. They support the position that minimum (or token) political representation by African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Latino Americans is sufficient. Perhaps operating out of the positions that were advanced in a Report to the Trilateral Commission, the practice of denying African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Latino Americans, and other identifiable individuals and groups political rights to choose and select representatives of choice is a very serious issue. Cited in AThe Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governance of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission,@ is the following statement:

The effective operation of a democratic political system usually requires  some measure of apathy and noninvolvement on the part of some individuals and groups. In the past, every democratic society has had a marginal population, of greater or lesser size, which has not actively participated in politics. In itself, this marginality on the part of some groups is inherently undemocratic, but it has also been one of the factors which has enabled democracy to function effectively.

What is clearly revealed in this statement is that in order for the current democratic political system to Afunction effectively – it must have a degree of apathy and non-involvement by some individuals and groups. While apathy and non-involvement Is widespread in American politics – even with this being the situation – perhaps the political system is overburden (imagine what would happen if a higher percentage of citizens participated in the political process on a regular and consistent basis).
Please note that the views advanced in the Trilateral Commission Report are not isolated views and thoughts. There is a school of thought – as well as a body of literature reflective of that school – which maintains that apathy may be Afunctional@ for democracy (see James W. Protho and Charles M. Griyg). Harry Eckstein, who raises the issue of Abalanced disparities maintained that:

Democratic government require a healthy degree of authoritarianism not for the sake of congruence between government and other aspects of society, but for the even simpler reason that a representative government must satisfy two values which, on the evidence, are not easily reconcilable.

And then there is Samuel P. Huntington writing APost-Industrial Politics: How Benign Will It Be?  Huntington states that post industrial societies may be Afaced with an over participation problem. Huntington stated that Awidespread education tends to produce too much interest and participation which leads in turn to political stalemate. Clearly, it is the suggestion here that a certain level of political participation will eventually lead to a crisis with respect to the governance of democracy.