By Mickey Dunaway

One of THE foundation stones on which we built America is that we are a democracy where the majority rules.  

Right?  Sort of.   Wrong?  Sort of. 

On May 13, 2015, The Washington Post printed the following description of the United States:

“The United States is not a direct democracy, in the sense of a country in which laws (and other government decisions) are made predominantly by majority vote.  Some lawmaking is done this way [majority vote of the people] on the state and local levels, but it’s only a tiny fraction of all lawmaking.  But we are a representative democracy, which is a form of democracy.”

I have observed in my educational law classes that most of my graduate students missed the “not a direct democracy” concept in their high school government classes, and instead, they embraced the logical but improper and dangerous idea that “a majority vote by the people” is THE basis of our form of Government in almost every citizen-to-government interaction.  Why is this important? 

Let’s time-travel back to 1989.  On January 3, 1989, the 11th Federal Circuit Court for the states of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida ruled that prayer before high school football games was illegal (since affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court for every public school). 

In 1989, I had been a high school principal for five years in the small and lovely textile town of Alex City, Alabama.  I taught an adult Sunday School Class at the First Methodist Church, and in 1989, I had never been to a high school football game in my entire life of 46 years that did not begin with a prayer.  Never saw a pastor pray before baseball or basketball games.  Guess it is true that football IS a religion in the Deep South!

Anyway, the January decision by the 11th Circuit Court slowly began to be noticed by the media, and by late summer, it had made its way to communities and their school boards.  It was a damn fine political issue for the media and politicians to bring to the public’s attention for political effect and sell advertising.  The Mayor of Montgomery said, “”Football is a tradition in Montgomery and in Alabama and in America,” Mr. Folmar announced on the field before the prayer.  ”Prayer is a tradition here in Montgomery, in Alabama, and in these United States.”  To make his point, he stood at the 50-yard line of the Cramton Bowl stadium in his town, defied that federal court, and began the football season by invoking the blessings of the Almighty on those players who just moments later would commence to trying to break each other’s legs and arms.

For principals and superintendents, it was not so much political as it was personal since the support of their communities was the school’s lifeblood, and it just so happened that most citizens in most Alabama communities agreed with Hizzoner, the mayor.

That late summer of 1989, the representative democracy of the United States in the form of the Constitution and the 11th Circuit Federal Appeals Court came smack dab face-to-face with all those citizens who had chosen to sleep during the lesson in government class on representative vs. direct democracies.

Thus, I was asked  hundreds of times over a few weeks, “What will y’all do on Friday night about that prayer?” 

I responded, “We are no longer praying before games.”  

“Well, why the hell not?  The majority of people in Alex City want it.  Aren’t we a country of majority rule?”

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And there you have the problem.  As citizens, we may protest, march, and raise our voices, and the Constitution guarantees us the right to petition our Government, but our voices are one level removed from the laws that keep our country sane. 

I have read that the Framers of the Constitution set up our Government as a representative democracy because they were fearful that the people of our infant nation were not well enough informed to govern through direct democracy.

When national leaders discuss the trends of Tweets, Facebook posts and messages, Snap Chats, Instagrams, and YouTube and TicToc Viral Videos, I get increasingly frightened that our country is heading headlong toward anarchy.  And it will be the direct vote that drives us there.  When a city council votes on an issue based on the content of the 

The very reason a representative democracy is so important is to keep mob rule from becoming acceptable.  According to Wikipedia, “Anarchy is the condition of a society, entity, group of people or a single person that rejects hierarchy.” As soon as the 200 million people in our country ignore the rule of law and reject hierarchy, we are in danger of anarchy. 

MY POINT?  Social media, in all its forms, promotes a rejection of historical voting procedures, a rejection of order, a rejection of laws, and legitimate lawmaking.  As I write this, the hot political issues are immigration, the makeup of the Supreme Court, charges against former President Trump, and the racial and ethnic divisions being hammered by the extremes of each political group.

Do you want anarchy?  Ignore the laws.  Institute direct democracy.  Embrace the power of social media as the voice of the entire citizenry of America.

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Whether or not Russia affected the last election through social media, I don’t know.  I know that the evidence is clear that they indeed tried.  They tried to push the U.S. into a state of anarchy.  I doubt another foreign country will get this close again.  With the current state of affairs, they will not have to. 

The enemy is already INSIDE our borders, and its name is SOCIAL MEDIA.  Its message is, let’s vote on everything.  Direct democracy in all things.  

But its tactics are subtle.  Watch the next newscast.  Does it have the results of a silly and unreliable survey scrolling across the bottom of the screen?  It is direct democracy via smartphone through which far too many believe they should have a voice in everything, and they NOW have the means to vote on the movie of the week or if illegal immigrants should vote in the next election.

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Remember Homer’s story of the Trojan Horse?  I do.  I can see its head just above the horizon.  It is glorious.  It is beautiful.  ITS NAME IS ANARCHY