Informed Electorate-the basis of democracy

- Mobashshir Hussain -

A wise man once said that in a democracy something more important than its institutions and its leaders is an informed electorate. He didn't say it in the form of a quote he meant it. Our electorate needs to be informed to make reasonable decisions and to cast their vote wisely based on those decisions. An ill-informed electorate is the greatest tool for those who want to be elected, for they can be easily persuaded, convinced, or worse, manipulated to suit narrow interests. That is why an informed electorate in a democracy is of paramount importance. Such "ill-informed voters" are either oblivious of their surroundings or they choose to believe the facts they want to believe. While voting they look for easy solutions or immediate results and in this pursuit, the leaders they choose symbolize incompetence and greed in the guise of confidence and hope.

An electorate has a crucial drawback of polarisation. When people are attached to either poles of the political spectrum, or to put it in another words, to a certain political view which they think to be right, they are stuck to that opinion and when they hear its criticisms, it's unacceptable to them. They don't see it in the form of a constructive criticism or a counterargument, they see it as an attack on their opinion and they reject its validity. This contributes to polarisation among the people, where voters become hard-line supporters of a party or an ideology. Disagreement of the people with their party is perceived as betrayal whereas unquestioned support for the party is taken as the duty of the person, even a condition.

But this doesn't mean that it's a failure of democracy or that democracy is doomed, as it is hyped frequently, it signifies a challenge to democracy, an obstacle in the path, a tall wall to climb which seems impossible. What's required to face this challenge? The principle, or a section of people, of an informed electorate, who can truly chose to give their vote rather than being dictated their choices in the name of loyalty. Those who are informed are not noble elites or prideful thinkers alone, these are common people who come from a diversity of backgrounds and can't be specified in vote banks or the swing vote but nevertheless decide the outcomes of elections.

In today's world, being informed is not particularly difficult but it can land you in a dilemma. Usually a newspaper with a reputable name can keep you informed but in the past decade, with advent of digital media, newspaper sales have plummeted to extreme levels. With the coming of social media, a new concept of "citizen journalism" has emerged where common citizens can post the happenings of events or share their views about a heated topic. The main purpose of citizen journalism is to make the news more accessible, more relatable and to make the people instantly updated. Though their model of journalism has its benefits, it has one essential flaw an average user tends to miss; the facts presented are not verified. Now, imagine the consequences of that, people are taking in the news without even knowing whether it is true or false thus opening the path of a wave of misinformation to follow. The difference between a citizen journalist and a true journalist is that the latter takes the painstaking task of verifying their sources, confirming it as true and then presenting to the viewers. It usually may not be instant but it’s usually the truth.

But what is truth in our world now? For the perspective of a voter, or a citizen, or just a human being for that matter, truth is not given to you by your political candidate, or your ideology, or your government, you have to find it and search for it rather than to be served the truth on a silver platter. The world may try to offer it to you, saying this is the ‘ultimate’ truth, but you should remember the fact that the more easier they make it seem, the more complex it actually is. Take for example, the advocacy for tariffs which are essentially import taxes put on countries and corporations. The advocates of tariffs claim that the more tariffs on other countries being applied today will lead to discouraging of dependency on imports, which will give domestic industry incentive to grow and thereby increase exports to the world. It sounds simple but isn't actually. Increased tariffs on other nations is not just as simple as it is being put.  Increased tariffs mean that the exporting country, on whom the tariff is put, will now pay the tariff and sell the product at a higher price to retain their profit margin. The importing country, who imposed harsh tariffs, will receive the tariffs money and probably boast about it, but the product imported will now be sold at a much higher price to the consumer, the local businesses and the companies in the long term. These higher prices for every product of imported will inevitably, through economic processes, will lead to higher inflation. Economists suggest that the inflation rates though steady at first but eventually will lead to a costly recession and when this happens in the largest economy in the world, it will have global ramifications. The very idea of tariffs being imposed now is a populist measure for short-term gains, not at all fit for long-term economic growth, put upon an uninformed electorate for approval, because the government knows that most will not take the effort to be them-selves informed, until they realise it the hard way. Even then, the real cause of the situation or the actual truth of the matter remains shrouded.