“And the people have the power, to redeem the work of fools. From the meek the graces shower. It’s decreed the people rule.” That is how Patti Smith in 1988 sang it very precisely, where people still seemed active in the political environment. People are democracy, which means that if the people grab democracy by its significance, they will acquire power.
Many citizens of the United States of America have lost interest in politics and the meaning of democracy seems devouring. Not many citizens voted, which most certainly does not contribute to democracy. Still, many people – especially democrats – have been baffled over how a discriminating man like Trump could win the election. For many, he is a symbol of backtrack of every modern policy of interest we have ever accomplished. It seems as if it is harder finding positive outcomes of his election rather than negative. However, Zachery Shahan seems to have found one positive outcome of it. He argues that this election has created a renewed awareness about democracy and the consequences of being passive in politics. As I said before, people constitutes democracy and if the majority of people choose not to get involved, democracy is limited and does not exploit its full potential. In the quote: “The story is the overall lack of involvement in our political system, the degree to which the American public hardly knows who is running for office and what their actual record is,” he argues that some people have become so ignorant to politics that they do not even know who are running. In addition, he says that as a result of that “We are facing a reckoning and are being forced into a deep societal soul searching.” I other words, we have no choice but to get ourselves involved in politics to prevent situations like these happening again. President Trump is in that way good for democracy, because he created a renewed awareness and debate – both national and international – and succeeded in getting people more interested and having opinions.
Zachary Shahan uses logos and pathos as forms of argumentation. He appeals to the logic of people, by saying that: “lack of political involvement among liberals, moderates, and moderate conservatives got us what we deserved. Our democracy got what it deserved.” He points out that of course Trump won the election, because the ones, who were supposed to vote for Hillary, chose to stay at home and let politics be politics: “Trump won in large part because people who opposed him stayed home.” The majority of those who complains are the ones who chose not to get involved. This speaks to the conscience of the people, by letting them be regretful about what they have caused. They might not vote for him, but they did not deselect him either. He supports this argument by saying that non-participation and lack of involvement is not a new case. He uses the examples of former presidential elections, e.g. when Obama was elected: “Staying home, they gave President Obama the most obstructionist Congress in perhaps the history of this country.” Again, the ones who might have been complaining, where most likely the ones who stayed home.
Zachary Shahan says that because of being willingly ignorant, the people were too late with demonstrations and taking action. People knew what kind of man he was long before he was elected: “These things were obvious long before the election, but where were the people in the streets then?” Just another argument of how uninvolved and uninterested people have become. It is only when the damage is done you begin to take responsibility. By then, usually it is too late. You reap what you sow. One cannot be dissatisfied with something he or she chose not get involved with
Many people seem to argue that Donald Trump’s wealth made him president. However, Zachary Shahan argues that the people repeatedly seem to forget that ”No matter how much Big Business puts money into the political system, it is the people who vote, word of mouth that inspires, and civic involvement that controls this country.” Zachary Shahan also points out that: “If we let this shock turn us away from conventional politics, we lose.” If we blame the outcome of the election on things like infrastructural aspects and choose not to vote at next election as a way of protesting, we will lose our democracy and therefore lose. This election solely stands as a failure of the democratic process at every possible level.
His way of appealing to the reader – and especially the non-voters – occurs as very blaming: “I have been wisely advised to not shame the voters, but let’s be honest with ourselves – lack of political involvement among liberals, moderates, and moderate conservatives got us what we deserved”. He blames the people for being indifferent towards the election. In addition, he encourages the non-voters to get up of their couches, to prevent situations like in the future: “Please, though, use this opportunity right now to reflect on the importance of civic engagement in a democratic society — and who will continue to control society if we leave democracy to others.” He speaks in a very formal way, which makes him appear as very serious about this concern. He speaks directly to the reader with pronouns as you and we, which makes one feel attacked and responsible for the causes: “.But if we let this anger, fear, and depression destroy us, we lose” This seem to make the message appear stronger – together we, the people, can make a difference.
To conclude, Zachary Shahan uses many arguments based on logos and pathos. He does not support his arguments with interviews or statistics, he appeals only to the logic and conscience of people. This seem to be a good method, since the purpose of the article is to make people aware about politics and the consequences of not voting and getting involved.
Source:
Trump May Be The Best Thing That Happened To US Democracy In Decades