Integral Review

A Transdisciplinary and Transcultural Journal For New Thought, Research, and Praxis

The Historical and Ideological Roots of US Voter Exclusion: An Integral Examination of the Myth of US Democracy

Walter E Davis

Abstract: This article examines voter rights, voter exclusion, and democracy in the US from historical and ideological perspectives. The contention is that voter exclusion is not the issue but a symptom of larger problems of the anti-democratic institutions of separation (dominator hierarchies), including nationalism (e.g., white supremacy and Christian nationalism), militarism, imperialism, and imperial capitalism. Voter exclusion, particularly aimed at Black and other non-white people, and their allies, and the suppression of democracy are traced through four eras: the establishment of the US 1600s-1850s), emancipation and Jim Crow (1865-1930s), protest movements (late 1940s-1990s), and Trumpism (21st Century-present). A continuity in extensive voter exclusion and anti-democratic policies and practices, and the rise the US as the dominant imperial power is demonstrated. Problems are both systemic and ontological. Thus, a multi-pronged integral approach for democratizing US society is proposed. Essential to this approach is ideological paradigm shifts in politics, economics, philosophy, science, and spirituality.

Tags: , , , , , ,






Current Issue

Recent Issues