Let's not give the electoral process so much importance. We have to be cynical about it. Let's give importance to the real democracy that's constructed on a day-to-day basis. That's my hopeful perspective on it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Every democracy is constructed day-to-day. And the electoral process reduces and minimalizes every single aspect of human complexity. We're putting it into pamphlets. We're doing a publicity show. We're becoming symbols.
Democracy is an extraordinary adventure. It's difficult, full of daring and risk and danger. But it's the greatest gift we have.
Electoral contests have nothing but polls, which is why people have grown so obsessed with them; we're desperate for an objective rendering of what is happening and what may happen.
Organising free and fair elections is more important than the result itself.
The way people imagine their political leaders is, like it or not, an important factor in how they decide to vote and, indeed, whether they vote at all.
I believe that democracy is about values before it is about voting. These values must be nurtured within society and integrated into the electoral process itself.
If an election is simply a one-day snapshot of transient mass delusions, then this is not a very noble form of government.
Voting is completely important. People in America think democracy is a given. I think of it as an ecosystem, and what gets in the way of it is politicians and apathy.
Voting is fundamental in our democracy. It has yielded enormous returns.
Voters must have faith in the electoral process for our democracy to succeed.