Is Democratization the Right Word?

In the history of the United States, I suspect that people in Colonial days wanted first some economic security. Government was not large, but I suspect that they wanted some aspects of life other than economic security. They wanted to be free, They wanted freedom of religion. They wanted freedom to say what they wanted, and to argue for their beliefs. The wanted freedom to choose the work that they did, and to keep a fair portion of the value they created in that work. They wanted a rule of law rather than the unpredictability of rule by the powerful. Where there were public services -- provision of roads, mail service, police, etc. -- they wanted them to be honest. They wanted a say in their own destiny (at least white males took that say).

The United States was also a nation of civil society organizations, not merely of governments and economic institutions. People worked together toward common goals, without the force of government nor the incentive of individual economic rewards driving the collaboration.

They were willing to make all sorts of compromises with the principle of "one man, one vote". They gave small states political power out of proportion to their populations, and they gave white voters in slave states political power out of proportion to their numbers.

The process of extension of basic human rights to all members of American society has been a very long one, and does not seem to be complete yet. The civil rights movement took place in my lifetime. There are still lots of glass ceilings in this society. Still, Americans enjoy the myth that this is "the land of opportunity". That the playing field is even, and that people can rise to their level of ability and competence.

So too, in spite of evidence from history, Americans value and believe in the myth that we do not exploit other peoples, and that we interact with other nations in respect for others. We see ourselves as a nation promoting democracy not only because we are safer among other democracies, but because we believe that the people in other nations will also be better off under democracy.

I wonder if the success of our voting system is not the result of these more fundamental institutions. A corollary is that the effort to create voting based governance systems without the underlying institutions to support democratic governance may be ineffective.