This is the second of a three part session.
FREEDOM AND SOCIAL POWER
There is no such thing as absolute freedom. Freedom is a function of social power. There is only freedom for particular individuals and groups to do certain things.
Where there are fundamentally opposing interests, an increase in the power (and freedom) of one individual or group necessarily means a relative decrease in the power (and freedom) of the others.
Unemployment increases the freedom of employers to get their pick of job applicants, to pay low wages, and to avoid protests from workers. For the same reasons, unemployment decreases the freedom of workers. Likewise in a drought in India, thousands of peasants may starve while grain merchants get rich.
The total amount of freedom existing in a society as a whole depends on the overall distribution of social power. A free society is not achieved by trying to maximize the freedom of people as individuals, but by pursuing a balance or equality of social power among all individuals.
This is because our individual freedom is necessarily limited by our living with each other in society.
Traffic lights offer an excellent illustration of this. If a new traffic light is set up at an intersection, does it increase or decrease freedom? You have to stop if the light is red. On the other hand, if it is a busy intersection, you'd have to stop anyway to avoid accidents. Now while the light is green you are free to go through without stopping. If both streets are busy thoroughfares, with equal amounts of traffic, the new light would obviously increase the net amount of freedom for everybody.
But what if one road were a busy superhighway and the other a small country road with only a few cars which had to wait half an hour for an opportunity to cross? Maybe the freedom of the minority should be given consideration by a light which stopped the superhighway traffic for brief periods at infrequent intervals. The timing of the light would make the difference. Or the total amount of freedom might be still further increased by constructing an overpass.
Freedom, like social power, depends on circumstances. What increases freedom in the country may restrict it in the city. What increases freedom in self-sufficient economies may limit it in interdependent industrial societies. Restrictions on individual freedom tend to increase as societies become more populous and integrated, in order to preserve the maximum possible freedom for all.
FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY ARE INSEPARABLE
Restrictions on individual freedom increase overall social freedom when they are self-imposed by those over whom they are exercised and when they apply equally to all members of society.
That is, restrictions increase freedom when they are democratically established and administered.
This can only happen where there is relative equality of social power in horizontal social relationships and responsibility of social power in vertical relationships (i.e, between those exercising any concentrated power and those over whom it is exercised).
Freedom and democracy are inseparable for three reasons:
• Both depend on equality of social power.
• Through using their democratic institutions people can protect their freedom.
• Through exercising their freedom people can protect their democratic institutions.
Consequently the two words are, in this social power analysis, interchangeable.
You can tell both how free and how democratic a society is by observing the extent to which its people can satisfy their wants through their existing social organization within the limitations of their environment.
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
Democracy is based on a faith in people - in the dignity and worth of the individual and in our shared humanity. It assumes that the basic objective of social action should be the welfare and happiness of the greatest number of people.
Democracy assumes that average citizens - with adequate education, information and institutions - will do a better job governing themselves and their communities, in the long run, than dictators and oligarchs.
Democracy is best defined as a society in which all social power is held by or is effectively responsible to the people over whom it is exercised.
This implies an even briefer definition:
Democracy is a society characterized by equality of social power.
Democracy is not merely a form of government, but a kind of society. Effective democracy requires democratic control of all social power, not merely government power.
Because government has the power to determine the rules governing the distribution of social power, democratic government institutions have historically - and rightly - been considered the keystone in the structure of democratic society. But voting is only one form of social power and representatives represent whatever power puts them in office. If political campaign expenses are paid by the wealthy, then that's who politicians listen to.
The vote alone is relatively ineffective unless there is also equality of other forms of social power, such as knowledge. Voters must have ways of learning about candidates and issues and when the media are controlled, once again, by those with money, then the ballot can't fulfill its democratic function.
These frustrations of the popular will - and the consequent popular dissatisfaction with the workings of the system - are signs that it is time to redistribute social power.
EQUALITY
What are we talking about when we say that equality is a basic requirement for effective democracy? Do we mean equality of income? No - most of us are willing to grant a higher income to those who contribute more valuable services to society. Equality of wealth? Perhaps, but how can we prevent inequality of income from leading to inequality of wealth? Equality before the law? Yes, definitely; but to be effective this depends on equality in other forms of social power, such as money to hire a lawyer. Equality of opportunity? Yes, certainly; but in practice does this mean opportunity for the wolf or opportunity for the sheep?
The Declaration of Independence says that "all men are created equal" - equal in the sight of God as members of the human race - as people. This is the essence of democratic society. Obviously all people aren't created equal in musical ability. Or mechanical ability. Or physical strength. Or even intellectual ability (whatever that means). Nor is there any agreed-upon way to add up the various inherited abilities of an individual to get their total "ability."
The greatest inequalities between individuals are not in their inherited characteristics, which are relatively unchangeable, but in the characteristics they acquire from their social environment as they grow up and take their place in society - personality, education, experience, wealth, contacts, etc. These things give people most of the social power they have.
The equality required by democracy is equality of social power. This doesn't mean there should - or could - be equality between all individuals in income or social position or any other particular form of social power. It means merely that there must be equality in the total complex of social power. Weakness in one form of power must be counterbalanced by strength in other forms. Nature offers us a model for such democratic balancing of power: Who can say which is more powerful - the panther, the skunk or the turtle?
Only a few people want to control or exploit others. Most people just want to live their lives in peace and security as respected members of their community. Consequently, to keep power-hungry people from unduly interfering in the lives of everyone else, defensive forms of social power are especially important in achieving an equally balanced distribution.
"Political democracy," "social democracy" and "economic democracy" are only meaningful in emphasizing single aspects of the total structure of social power. In reality these aspects are interdependent. Democracy is indivisible; it is a condition of the whole society. Power is fluid and transmutable. If there is concentrated, irresponsible power in some aspect of society, it will soon, like an insidious cancer, permeate the whole society.
INSTITUTIONAL KEYS TO DEMOCRACY
The distribution of social power is determined by our social institutions - laws, customs, forms of social organization.
Democracy is only possible where social institutions are designed to achieve and maintain equality of social power. There are three techniques to achieve this:
1) Diffusion of power (direct equality)
2) Constitutional responsibility of power (indirect equality: accountability)
3) Institutional checks and balances of power.
While these principles are part of our political tradition, we have yet to institutionalize them for all forms of social power in our society. And that is why we cannot even adequately maintain them in our political institutions.
Let's look at each one in more detail.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3
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