[This essay was originally a Letter to the Editor in response to an article that appeared in an issue of Bostonia, the alumni magazine of Boston University. I graduated from BU in 1978 with a Master of Education degree.]
I have concerns about some of
the assertions made by BU faculty members in “Is Our Democracy at Risk?”
(Summer 2024).
First, the United States is a constitutional
republic, a restrained form of democracy with checks and balances among
three co-equal branches of government, a two-house national legislature, and an
electoral system of selecting the president. To simply say the US is a
democracy is to raise assumptions our Founders never intended.
Second, no evidence is presented
with the assertion of voter suppression. Indeed, required photo ID is easily acquired
and is not a barrier to the franchise. While there is no evidence of widespread
voter fraud, as long as humans and not angels are voting there will be fraud,
and voter IDs help in maintaining trust that our votes truly count.
I
trust that future articles of this sort published in the Bostonia will
be more balanced and nuanced reflecting the complexities of our federal system.
Joe D. Marlow
Wheelock ‘78
No comments:
Post a Comment