Democracy Is Not a Customer Loyalty Program
Liberal democracy’s assumption that political parties must compete for votes in the same way that businesses compete for customers is a dangerous trap. It reduces voting to a mere transactional choice and erases the participatory vision of self-governance
If no party reflects your values, this isn’t a failure by elites to earn your vote but a sign that you aren’t sufficiently included in public decision-making. (Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Most of us have a preferred political party. Even if we dislike many of its policies, its rhetoric, or its leader, and see our preference as a compromise, this party is closest to our values and is the alternative we’d prefer to govern.
At the same time, it can often feel like we lack any real choice in the matter. If only one party is tolerable, or all others are totally intolerable, it may feel as if we’re just voting against bad parties, rather than for a good one.
If this least-bad option drifts far enough from our values, we may decide to stop voting for the lesser evil until someone offers a vision worth supporting. That is, we may decide that no party can count on our unconditional support — if parties want our votes, they’ll have to earn them.
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