Democracy in 2025

Almost like clockwork there appears to be a new assault on the norms of democracy here in America. 

There seems to be an almost numbing to the seemingly new ways with which our constitutional liberties are being breached. The tools by which these are enacted at the federal level are happening across all three branches, not just the executive, like many wish to believe. Yet at the root we cannot find fault in how we arrived at this point democratically.

Personally, since running for a seat on the local Democratic Party, it has been a tumultuous time. I have been experiencing the joys of fatherhood for the first time and the months since have been eye opening as to the ways that something so new needs so much time and attention. As I have tried to stay connected to local politics, I have also watched how democracy at all levels requires just as much time and attention to be functioning properly. As such, I have taken to reading and reflecting on founding discussions over how democracy should be set up when America was also very new.

What is lost in modern contexts is how new and idealistic American democracy was at its inception. Democracy itself was not new at the time, having been “invented” by the Greeks millennia ago, but as a system of government it had few examples to be modeled upon. At its founding many viewed our fledgling government as a grand experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. Challenges that our government faced in its early decades were very different from what we face now internally and externally. Yet, besides the many trials it has endured over its few centuries of existence, how do we remain vigilant and continue to improve upon its founding ideals?

Now we have 50 states versus 13 colonies. Planes, trains and automobiles versus sailing ships and horses. E-mail and smartphones versus telegraphs and hand-written letters. 

While representation has expanded, where do we still see limitations or room for improvement in terms of “process” at various levels of government? While there have been numerous achievements in improving civil rights, there continues to be a tension of the need for continued progress. This at times leads to political activism being consumed by the “everything bagel” approach with goals and objectives straying to include too many causes.

With these rights now under assault, we no longer can take on the luxury of win-win political approaches, but we need to acknowledge the very real tradeoffs our democratically chosen policies enact. Too often we now fall for the trap of political identity where it has led to the development of political spectators and the team sportification of political parties. By defining the opposition no longer in terms of differing policy but as the “other,” we have abdicated the internal accountability we as voters have the responsibility to ensure that leads to good governance. By giving up the decision making to the smaller and smaller subset of people that can show up, it becomes harder and harder to enact positive change when the system continues to favor the status quo.

As Thomas Paine wrote in “Common Sense,” “Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our voices.” 

At its simplest, democracy is a tool for expression between society and government. Yet, what we see lately is not so much one side of the political spectrum dominating but voter apathy becoming the norm more than anything based on decreasing voter turnout numbers. Even if we could compel more people to register and vote, we also want informed voters making these tough decisions and tradeoffs. This becomes the modern challenge of competing priorities where the rise of social media and the accompanying amount of misinformation allows anyone to say anything to easily derail honest debate.

While technology has improved communication tools drastically since the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has been tasked with so much more than it was originally intended. Does that mean we should drop those responsibilities or do we start to adapt the means of participation to more adequately address modern challenges. Over the next few months, I hope to examine more of these topics in relation to how to defend democracy in more detail.

Brian Quan is a Richmond District native, co-leader of Grow the Richmond, member of the Park Presidio-Sunset Lions Club and leads a monthly Refuse Refuse S.F. street clean-up.