Democracy is unnatural to human evolution, but here’s how to help it survive

For much of our 300,000 year human existence we lived as hunter gatherers in small bands of 50 – 100 led by a chief. We were semi-nomadic, moving whenever resources were depleted. With the discovery of agriculture, we became more stable, and the hunter-gatherer band became more permanent villages. Our leaders became rulers or kings.

Then in 1776, a group of colonists borrowed an idea from ancient Athens that all citizens should have a voice in government. Once independence was achieved, they codified this radical idea into our Constitution. Members of the House of Representatives were to be elected by the citizens, with each representing about the same number of people. But in order to get all 13 of the colonies to agree to the union, a separate governing body, the Senate, was established with equal representation from each of the states. This was a curious compromise because states are artificial geographic entities that exist solely because of the people who live in them. Thus, the Senate is not representative, but it give states with fewer citizens greater power over the government than a true democracy would have. Unremarked at the time the Constitution was written, we had slavery, and slaves were property, not citizens. Women too, were essentially property not citizens. It took almost 100 years for slaves to become citizens and 50 years more for women to have a voice in government.

Our representative democracy is an experiment that has evolved over the past 250 years. But it is unnatural. Through much of human history, we were led by autocratic leaders. Thus, it is natural for some people to want greater control over others. In our experiment in democracy there are constant forces that work to gain more power than their vote. Our democracy, as it is taught in school, is an ideal that exists in principle but not in fact.

We are currently faced with forces that continue to erode our democracy. In addition to the structural unfairness of the Senate, there are three important mechanisms that are undermining our democracy. First, the large amounts of money that have been infused into the political process. Millions are now spent to obtain special favors from our representatives but the Supreme Court ruled that money is speech.

Solution: the legislature has the power to determine how much each entity can contribute. Would the Congress be courageous enough to pass a law that any contribution to a political party cannot exceed $100?

A second threat to our democracy are primaries; elections in which only self-declared members of the party can vote. To win a primary these days, one has to appeal to the extreme members of the party. Thus, in the general election, only candidates with extreme views will be elected. This has led to the current polarization that has paralyzed our national legislature.

Solution: what if all primaries were open? What if everyone could vote in the primary, and the top two candidates would appear in a run-off in election? Candidates could still represent their party but to get independents and moderates to vote for them they could not afford to appeal to only the party extremes. California has been holding open primaries and it is having the desired effect. More moderate candidates are winning.

A third threat to our democracy is gerrymandering. According to the Constitution each state can decide how representatives from each state are selected. In Kentucky during the last senatorial election 40% of the people voted for the Democratic nominee, Amy McGrath while 60% voted for Mitch McConnell. If that was any indication of how the 7 Kentucky Members of the House of Representatives would be divided it would be 3 Democrats and 4 Republicans. Instead, it is 1 Democrat and 6 Republicans. The Republican State Legislature figured out how to divide the districts to accomplish this.

Solution: Instead of the state legislature deciding on the house districts, a nonpartisan group (perhaps nonpartisan judges) should be charged with constructing districts that make geographical sense.

Our democracy is unnatural in the same way as the houses we live in are unnatural. The difference is, our houses remind us that they are unnatural because the plumbing stops working, electricity goes out, the roof starts to leak. We all recognize those problems in our houses. Do we recognize the problems in our democracy? Can we work on fixing those problems before our democracy disappears? We cannot be complacent.

Thomas Zentall is a Research Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky.