So Loved the World

Democratize is one of those Greek-rooted words with parts that you recognize, but you may not yet know what it means. That's okay. Just break it down by its roots. Demo means "people," as in the word "epidemic," which means a disease that affects the masses. Crat means "rule," as in "bureaucrat" or "autocrat." And Ize means "to render," as in "summarize," to render a summary. So you know all the parts of this word, which means you largely understand what it means. Just put the parts together. Democratize = People + Rule + Render = "to render under the rule of the people."

This word is so powerful in its ideas that it's the root behind an entire major political party here in the United States, the Democrats, and whether you agree with their policies and positions or not, there is no ignoring how successful they have been at convincing people to follow them since Andrew Jackson first ran for President in 1824. Fifteen US Presidents have been Democrats as of this writing, and even those who haven't been Democrats have committed themselves vocally and ideologically behind the idea of democracy, that every person's voice matters and that we are, as one Republican president once put it, "a government of the people, by the people, for the people." That's the influence of the word democracy. It's infused deep within our marrow that all people should have access to enough power and resources to govern themselves and that we all get a voice.

While democracy has evolved and expanded a great deal since Athens, one thing that has not changed, and indeed has only gotten denser, is the deep-seated belief within all of us that the good of the people should take precedence. Think about it. Almost no one needs convincing that democracy is in the people's best interests. It doesn't take a deep dive into Western literature to see a common theme of oppressed masses overthrowing a tyrannical government. Many of the heroes in our stories are fundamentally democratic forces working to produce a freer world for the people they serve. Whether it's Princess Leia, Ironman, or (our personal favorite) Malcolm Reynolds, they all seek to undo the workings of oppression and bring about a new age of liberty for their worlds.

Why do we do that? Why do our bards sing to us the epics of emancipation? Why do our storytellers submit to us movie after movie, book after book, and folk song after folk song about freedom fighters? Because we see ourselves in them. We're not just an audience. Each time we watch, read, or listen, we're participating in the grand celebration of self-governance, which inspires us to serve others, to care for the poor and needy, and to seek justice for those still oppressed. In this way, a free and democratic world reproduces itself as long as the conditions are right for it to continue.

But there are many detractors, many who would seek to chain those who are free. They all start out the same way, promising more resources to people in exchange for more power to a certain group, or even just a certain person. These would-be rulers all begin under the guise of chasing the will of the people, but they really seek power for themselves and those like them. They pledge to make things right for the masses by vilifying "others" instead of including them, by identifying a core group of constituents to whom rights should be denied in order for the masses to stay "safe," and by assuring that once everything has blown over, they will give the power right back to the people—a promise almost universally broken. As Shakespeare's Brutus reminds us, "Th' abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power" (Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 1, lines 19-20).

History and literature have seen this cycle so many times, it's hard even to count, but the lessons are the same. Democracy means giving power away, not keeping it, and by doing so, the human story has proven that there is more than enough power to go around. This world is almost infinitely abundant in that and many other resources. There's no need to hoard power, and if history teaches us anything, you can't keep it away from the people for very long anyway.