Israel is heading for the third general election in less than one year: April 2019, September 2019 and now March 2020. I would like to write about one aspect of this unprecedented reality that I think is important.
Voting age in Israel is 18. There are 18- and 19-year-olds who will be voting this coming March for the third time in their life. This is their first real-life encounter with the democratic process, and it is wildly different from anything their parents and grandparents ever experienced. The effects of this experience may have unpredictable effects on how they perceive and understand the workings of a democracy.
In a representative democracy, voters elect officials (120 in Israel’s case) who then have a few years (4 in Israel’s case) to run the country as they see fit and in accordance (hopefully) with the wishes of the voters that put them in their seats. Israel does not have a constitution; it has “basic laws” which require a special majority and act, in some specific areas, as a replacement for a constitution. The result is that the 120 parliament members have a wide remit to enact new legislation, some of it precedent-setting in nature. This power should come with responsibility.
The current, abnormal situation means that for the past year or so, parliament has been effectively paralyzed. In the absence of a functioning government there is almost no debate on any issues, let alone new legislation. Most if not all parliament members are busy securing their position within their parties , switching alliances, and campaigning for the next election. This campaigning has been getting uglier and uglier as the stalemate continued, with unprecedented levels of fear-mongering, incitement against different social groups and a general free-for-all attitude of “anything goes”.
My generation understands this is abnormal and generally does not view this ugly campaigning as the normal functioning of a parliament. But the young generation probably does not have the background and experience to make this distinction. They are exposed to the current “work” of parliamentarians and will likely confuse this for their role in a representative democracy.
The long-term effects of this real-life lesson in flawed democratic processes are unknown. The lack of exposure to a normal reality, where ideology and beliefs act as the foundations of a functioning democratic process, may taint the way this young generation values and respects elected officials. Already there is anecdotal evidence that many young people feel disenfranchised and do not intend to vote. “What for?” they ask, if this vote results once again in a stalemate and the people “up there” behave like the worst ruffians on the street?
A message our generation needs to pass on to the new one is that what is going on now is unusual and untypical. This is not how democracy should work. This is not how elected officials should behave. We should reinforce their belief in the system, in the hope that this annus horribilis will be over soon and normality shall return to prevail.
Nafka Mina 