Strategically Communicating

I have never thought of democracy as a moral obligation until I read this week’s class reading of “Media-Citizen Reciprocity as a Moral Mandate.” At first, I had a reaction to the author’s use of the word “moral,” as in, moral obligation. Why not social obligation or some other word other than one that has fundamentalist overtones? But I realize I’ve taken for granted that I live in a country where I am free to think, act and speak. Democracy is a government run by the people for the people. In contrast, to see totalitarian governments, like Cuba’s, control their citizens by limiting their access to the internet, well then, I’m embarrassed to admit I have not been carrying my “share of the democratic burden.” I have felt like other Americans who have felt powerless that their participation will change anything. But as Robert Reich states in his article, The Disease of American Democracy, “Powerlessness is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we give up on politics, we’re done for.”