Decrease In Democracy During The 1920's

3. How did observers explain the decrease in democracy and popular participation in government during the decade? During the 1920s, it was observed that there was a decrease in American citizens’ possession of democratic thought, which promoted a “…radical, self-directed citizen” (Foner 769), and popular participation in the government. Walter Lippmann, author of Public Opinion and The Phantom Public explained that the decrease in democracy was due to the fact that “…the American voter was ill-informed and prone to fits of enthusiasm” (Foner 769). He implied that the American citizen was only as informed as the government wanted them to be, for they had “…perfected the art of creating and manipulating public opinion” (Foner 769). The government
As for the decline in popular participation, in their study titled Middletown, Robert and Helen Lynd found that “…new leisure activities and a new emphasis on consumption had replaced politics as the focus of public concern” (Foner 769). There was a drastic shift from concern over the public, i.e. politics and society itself, to concern over private lives. For the first time in American history, citizens were more concerned with themselves rather than their country, and as a newspaper in Muncie, Indiana stated, “The American citizen’s first importance to his country is no longer that of a citizen but that of a consumer” (Foner 769). There were, of course, other factors to help explain the decline in democracy and popular participation during the decade, such as Republican dominance in elections, the consolidation of “…one-party politics in the South” (Foner 769), and the low turn-out of women voters in elections. However, the most important factor was that in early 20th century America, a new society had been born—one where citizens were more concerned about consumerism than they were about politics. This focus on consumerism and the “simpleminded”, controlled American