With the passing of the 7th Democratic debate for the Iowa caucus, certain issues have begun to arise that give me grave reminders from the previous election cycle. The people of interest in this debate, in particular, are senator Warren and senator Sanders. As observed in previous debates the two Progressives seemed to never debate against the other seeming as they had previously agreed to ceasefire both on and off the debate stage. Yet with recent allegations from the media stating that Bernie does not believe that a woman could not win the presidential election, tensions between the two rose. Due to the biased form of the platform, as CNN treated the allegations as the truth when asking the senators about the issue, in which the 7th debate took place the tensions quickly escalated forming a rift between the previously amicable candidates and their respective voter base. With this split between the two leading progressive candidates, the Democratic party finds itself at an impasse as the general will of the people that support the party was split between the establishment democrats such as Biden and the progressives. This new split further divides the will of the party shifting from the general will of the people to a more niche collective will of private individuals. I find it improbable that with this further division in the party that the will of one of these increasingly niche candidates will resonate amongst the general will of the nation.“But the whole less a part is not the whole, and as long as this relationship is the case, there is no longer a whole but rather two unequal parts. Whence it follows that the will of the one is certainly not general in relation to the other.” (On the Social Contract, 179). It seems that the cycle of division that started with the 2016 election is bound to happen once more to the Democratic party as it continues to hold to different pieces of the puzzle which unless united cannot fulfill the general will of the people, and therefore cannot hope to win the presidential election.
Enlightenment, Romanticism and Revolution
A website and blog for HUM 4 A08
I find your description of the relationship between the politicians and regular citizens really interesting! It really makes me wonder whether we as citizens sometimes follow the platforms of our politicians too much when really the job of politicians should be to follow and represent the will of the people instead. This discourse fits in great with Rousseau’s idea of the social contract.