Is Voting a Veneer? Is America’s Democracy Real?

We keep hearing that we have a voice, with our vote. Do we?

“We are in the middle of a Ketamine-fueled, middle of the night, autocratic power grab, that is rendering congress irrelevant, rendering policy irrelevant, and rendering the rule of law an afterthought.”

-Rachel Maddow

Has voting just been a thin veneer over the beginnings of autocratic rule?

How is the voice of the people heard?

Through voting, we are told.

Does it really work for us, though?

The Theory

We allegedly elect politicians, from the town council, to the President of the United States, by systems that use both the popular vote, and the popular vote to inform an Electoral College, for the presidential elections.

These politicians are then sworn to uphold and defend their city laws, state Constitution, and the federal Constitution.

Yet we have seated governments, in 2025, which are of the money, by the money, and for the money.

Many of the modern oligarchs have come out of the shadows, and are now pushing us towards an authoritarian government which has focused on democide, policies guaranteed to eliminate millions of people, by any means possible.

Voting, and your vote, in particular, has been hollowed out, over the last fifty years.

What are Symptoms of the Hollowing-out of Our Vote?

We often look at these as “causes,” but they’re really just symptoms.

Polarized Electorate

A polarized electorate, with both the dogmatic, and the disgusted, has written off their responsibilities to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution. This would be why more than a third of American voters stayed home, in the 2024 presidential election.

Right Wing Legal & Political Maneuvering

Over the past several election cycles, the Far Right has diminished voting power in the U.S., through:

• Restrictive laws - The Shelby County v. Holder decision (2013) weakened the Voting Rights Act, leading to stricter voter ID laws, purges, and reduced early voting, disproportionately affecting minorities. Post-2020, states introduced over 100 bills limiting mail-in and early voting, often justified by unfounded fraud claims.

• Judicial rulings - Leonard Leo has helped Republicans engage in a shocking level of “judicial activism,” their primary charge against liberal-leaning justices. With the help of the false-originalist Federalist Society, he has generated a legion of low-qualification, highly dogmatic, and often highly unqualified judicial appointees that Trump has placed on the bench. They have upheld restrictive laws, and partisan gerrymandering.

• Political strategies. Misinformation, and election denialism, have eroded public trust in the elections process. This discourages participation, which, in turn threatens to collapse the integrity of the democratic electoral process. Approximately 90 million eligible voters, about 36% of the voting-age population, didn’t participate in the 2024 election. They were a bigger slice of the electorate than the number of votes cast for either major candidate. Paricularly the Far Right has exacerbated these trends:

  • Voting Isn’t Socially Expected – There’s no widespread societal pressure to vote.

  • Alienation from Politics – Politicians are seen as being “out-of-touch elites.”

  • Low Civic Engagement – The U.S. has weaker civic education and engagement compared to other democracies.

Advertising & Marketing

The media becomes complicit because news is a for-profit business. The billions spent on political campaigns? Where do you think that money goes? Into the coffers of CNN, NBC, Fox, Facebook, X, and the myriad others.