The United States is viewed as the most successful democracy in the world, however, it has been drafted in a manner that does not give unlimited freedom to the masses. It seems to suffer from a dilemma of trusting the people and suspecting their abilities. While the system relies on the people to make choose their government well, it lacks the faith that they are informed and knowledgeable enough to make the right choice. Hence, an informed citizenry becomes crucial to the effectiveness of a democratic government.
It should be noted that the public does not lack the know-how and knowledge about civic issues as well as politics due to a deficiency of will. It is argued here that, if the people are provided with sufficient motivation, education and are given the right opportunities, the masses will utilize their political power in an informed manner. It would be wrong to place the blame of failed democracies around the world on the shoulders of an ill-informed citizenry. The citizenry would function better if they were better informed.
While using a model based on economics, it would seem impractical to educate the people about politics, civic models give more appropriate, empirical and normative direction as to the effect of making information available to the general public. It may be true that it is impossible to provide absolute knowledge to all citizens, it is practically viable to provide sufficient relevant information to the masses to create an informed citizenry.
It should be noted that the difference in knowledge between citizens correlates to the distance between the societal strata that they belong to. A person of social and economic success is more likely to be politically well informed that someone from lower societal classes. Hence, it can be said that, should people be given equal access and education about politics, it is possible to attain an informed citizenry.
Although the US has undergone tremendous social, economical and political transformed since the end of the Second World War. Despite this, the level of knowledge and political awareness among the masses had remained the same, highlighting the dire need to raise the level of awareness among the masses. The scope of improving the knowledge levels of the masses great, given that sufficient opportunities and incentives are provided for the people to be educated.
The demographic makeup of the people including gender, race and political outlook often determines the level of understanding one has about politics. Even if a person is not an expert in a particular field of politics, he or she will most likely have a good general understanding. Awareness about issues concerning their own demographic group is at a higher level than that of other topics. For examples, an employee nearing retirement will know about each party’s stance on topics such as pension schemes, retirement age and employee rights. This will be in addition to the common knowledge the citizen has about the general political scenario. By encouraging the expansion of this specific knowledge among segments of the public, it will be possible to creates groups that can exercise creativity and drive change within their own interest areas.
IT should be noted that the above point also highlights the deep engraved differences between degree of political awareness among different societal levels. This phenomena tends to segregate the general public based on age, race, gender, financial standing and so on. The tenet of ‘equality for all’ which is crucial for an effective democracy tends to get defeated due to this biased nature of the knowledge base of the community at large. Further, as people of these segments are aware of politics that impact their own demographics, they are more likely to take decisions that benefit them alone. Hence, decisions will be made based on which segment of the society has the largest number of members. The requirements of this group will be fulfilled as a priority by the government selected by them. This would be unfair to the general public. Educating these segments about the policies and laws that adversely impact other demographic groups will allow people to understand each others’ situations and grievances, enabling more informed decision making.
In conclusion, while it is not safe to assume that people in general have low levels of political knowledge, their understanding is limited by several factors. A focused attempt to promote a more comprehensive understanding of the political realm will enable the creation of an informed citizenry, the foundation of which already exists.
