Guinier speaks out against status quo

Lani Guinier, a celebrated Harvard University law professor and civil rights activist, detailed the degenerating quality of democracy in the modern United States and proposed several solutions to reform the institution in a speech last Thursday at Shriver Hall as part of the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium.

Referring to the current conflict with Afghanistan, Guinier said, "The effort [of the U.S.] to claim the mantel of being the world's premiere democracy camouflages the flaw in the way we practice democracy."

She cited the story of the walled city of Verona in which a bishop and a rabbi conducted a silent debate before the townspeople as to whether the Jews should be evicted. The story revealed the lack of communication between the two debaters and of the participation of the people.

Guinier said the debate represented the current winner-take-all elections in the U.S.

"The story symbolizes the silent conversation of democracy in which the people have been excluded from the debate and those engaged in the debate are not even communicating," said Guinier.

Moreover, the participants in the debate were society's elites, said Guinier. Drawing a comparison to the last presidential election, Guinier said it was a match between Harvard and Yale with little participation by the common people.

"We now have one of the worst participation rates of any democracy in the world," said Guinier. "There are approximately 200 countries that call themselves functioning democracies. Ours of that list ranks at number 172 in terms of participation rates."

In fact, Guinier said, "More people will watch professional football any given Sunday than turned out last November in a close presidential election."

Voting participation is also skewed by socioeconomic status, according to Guinier. In fact, 2/3 of Americans with incomes over $50,000 vote whereas only 1/3 of the people with incomes under $20,000 exercise their voting rights.

Guinier suggested that such a skew in participation undermines general confidence in this nation's democracy. Essentially, the system's current state results in the rule of elites, which produced Guinier's key statement of the night.

"If elites are running the democracy in the name of the people but the people do not participate, in some ways we hardly have a functioning democracy," said Guinier.

Thus, the U.S. cannot claim that the basis of foreign envy is its weak democracy and freedoms, said Guinier.

Guinier proposed several ways to increase participation and to reform American democracy. Her most obvious solution was voting reform, in which she championed the concept of "proportional representation."

In this system, "the voters are represented in the legislature in proportion to the amount of like-minded voters who turned out," said Guinier. In simpler terms, there would be no winner-take-all elections; the members of Congress would represent political preferences of the voters.

"This system creates incentives for political parties to mobilize voters," said Guinier.

However, Guinier insisted that voting reforms are not enough. "Voting is not the only measure of participation in a democracy," said Guinier. "In some ways, by focusing only on turnout, we trivialize important roles that citizens can play in holding elected officials accountable after they get elected."

She provided two examples, one in Brazil and one in Chicago. She related the story of a Brazilian official - formerly a dramatist - who divided his constituency into seven different groups to generate solutions for societal problems, thus allowing the constituents direct input in the legislative process.

"It is that process of trying to adapt a new concept of representation that doesn't base democracy on simply a question of choosing who is going to take the power of the citizens," said Guinier. "It's really about sharing the power of the citizens, re-enforcing the power of the citizens and regenerating the power of the citizens so that the innovative thinking of all the people is generated to solve the problems of a society."

Such interaction between constituents and public officials has happened in the U.S. as well, said Guinier. Chicago was divided into 267 beats, each of which was visited by a police officer who worked with a citizen group. During the first nine months, the conference lacked a facilitator, and as a result it broke along racial lines.

"The white members talked and the black members listened," Guinier said. But after a facilitator was added, the black members contributed to the discussion and the police were able to uncover the root of the burglary issue in Chicago.

"We have too many people conditioned to listen who have a lot to say," Guinier said. As a result, Guinier urged the reevaluation of society's concept of power.

"Power in our view is about domination and control," said Guinier. "But there are other ways of perceiving power. Power need not be winner-take-all." Power is collaboration, said Guinier. As for those who feel change is impossible, Guinier referred to the civil rights battle in the 1960s.

"Almost 40 years ago in Alabama, black people could not vote, and the power structure didn't want to change," said Guinier. However, the people used public protests and unified opposition to coerce reluctant politicians to institute change.

"Progressive change in my view is necessary, but it will not emanate from those with big jobs in D.C.," said Guinier. "Things will happen when ordinary citizens take it upon themselves to do something."

After Guinier's speech, audience members were invited to ask Guinier questions about her views on a range of topics, and she continued to emphasize the concepts of collaborative power and reform instituted by the people.

M.S.E. Symposium co-Chairs Gregor Feige and Audrey Henderson expressed satisfaction with the event and with Guinier's speech, although Henderson recognized the poor turnout when compared to previous programs. "Guinier is so passionate that it's almost inspiring to listen to her," said Henderson. "We had dinner with her [before the speech], and she has a way of engaging you and getting you to talk about your opinions.'

Feige admired her willingness to acknowledge when she lacked a definite answer to some questions that arose during the night.

"She was able to look at different viewpoints and realize she may not have the answer to all these questions," he said. "That was one of the main themes we wanted to get out with the M.S.E. Symposium."

Former co-Chair of the M.S.E. Symposium, too, enthusiastically endorsed Guinier.

"She's the kind of voice that Hopkins needs to hear," said senior Dorit Radzin. "She put past historical events into terms we can think of today."

Freshman Maaha Jafri captured the point of Guinier's message.

"Since I agree that the structure of power is disproportionate, I think it's good that there's someone proactively advocating the challenge of the power structure in the American government.