Reflection on The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society

When I was reading The Moral Obligations of Living in a Demographic Society by Cornel West, there was a point in the reading which really made me think. It was the point when Cornel West talks about Democracy and how the conversation around the question “What is the role of the most disadvantaged in relation to the public interest?” is important because the “preservation of democracy is threatened by real economic decline,” (page 212). This question was interesting to me because it made me think about the many disadvantaged people in America who are struggling everyday because of our economic crisis. There are many disadvantaged people who are unemployed, have financial problems and are homeless. Also, it doesn’t help that there have been tax cuts from the rich to make people in the middle class sink lower and the lower class even lower in their life. If this continues, America will not be a democratic society but a society full of violence, chaos, no security and many people fighting to survive. Another point that Cornel West makes is the fact that America or “any civilization that is unable to sustain its networks of caring and nurturing will generate enough anger and aggression to make communication near impossible,” (page 212). I found this very interesting because in America we are in a very individualistic society in which we think more about ourselves than we think about others. Also, we keep to ourselves nearly all the time and don’t communicate with others as much as living in a collectivist society. To me this quote says that if we don’t start learning how to care about each other and communicate with each other, we will become angry and aggressive people who could care less about maintaining a democracy in America. If this happens, democracy will fall apart and it will turn to chaos and anarchy. There will be people who think only about themselves and their own survival in the world and will not give anyone else a shred of kindness or compassion. That is why we should all learn to care about each other so we can prevent this horrible future from becoming a reality.