New Yorkers are hearing a lot about something that sounds like democracy. Glossy mailers are landing in mailboxes. Overheated tweets are flying. Maybe there’s even a debate or two. Candidates are declaring that the future is on the line. But for all the noise, it’s worth asking: if only a fraction of us can vote — and fewer actually do — is it really democracy we’re practicing, or just the ritual performance of it?
We tend to assume that any place with elections is, by default, a democracy. But it’s not whether elections happen—it’s whether they matter. Vladimir Putin holds elections. So did Saddam Hussein. No one mistakes those regimes for democracies. And while New York City is a world apart, our own elections are looking less and less democratic.
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