Consider this: the two people most likely to become the next US President (Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump) each have disapproval ratings above 50% (Fournier). That
means that no matter who wins, most Americans will be dissatisfied with their leader. This
is worrisome for American democracy; however, such a state of affairs is not entirely new.
Chuck Palahniuk, in his foreword to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, asks, “how can you
live in a democracy that expects you to participate, to hold an opinion and vote...but at the
same time...follow the will of others if even the slimmest majority disagrees with you?”
(Palahniuk ix). This, he argues, is the central paradox that the novel explores; however, for
people like Ken Kesey, who railed
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The fact that Pete must be silenced “so the meeting can continue”
means that his contributions are not seen as relevant. He is disregarded as background
noise – indeed, one must “go” to silence him, suggesting distance between him and the
meeting. Moreover, the Nurse does not speak to him directly; rather, she sends an unnamed
“somebody” to “hush him up.” Even Bromden uses dismissive terms (“wigwags that
copper-pot head”) to describe Pete’s attempts to be heard. As such, Dr. Spivey’s description
of the Therapeutic Community (the approach to therapy utilized in the hospital) mirrors
the tragic state of American democracy. Spivey explains that the goal is to make the
hospital “as much like our own democratic, free neighbourhoods as possible” (44). By this
he means that everyone gets a voice, but the ironic truth is that everyone who conforms
gets a voice. Pete cannot conform even to mainstream mental illness; his problems are too
far beyond the expertise of the hospital staff to be worth discussion in a democratic forum.
This links him to real-world countercultural figures, as well as the very needy, who find
little satisfaction in the status quo and who are habitually left unaccounted
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People are not genuinely given a voice;
Muldrake 3
rather, they are coerced into revealing what they would prefer not to, and in the process
they undermine their own credibility and, ultimately, silence themselves. All the while,
Pete, who “said something that was real and true and important” that “put all their childish
hollering to shame” is ignored (45). From a modern perspective, this valuing of appearance
and spectacle over substantive debate is, sadly, very familiar.
Democracy may be the best foundation on which to build a society, but to glorify it
as perfect is clearly naive. Kesey’s depiction of the silenced countercultural figure with no
representative (and no hope for a representative) is a tragic reminder of something that
many Americans were acutely aware of in Cold War America. Today, the problem is
intensified by the many distractions from important issues that obstruct the selection of
credible candidates. It may still be possible to engage in democracy in a meaningful way;
the challenge is to find a way to get into the meeting, as opposed to pointlessly sitting
outside of it moaning about how tired you
Schiller, W. J., Geer, J. G., & Segal, J. A. (2013). Gateways to democracy: introduction to American government, the essentials. (2nd ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth ;.
1. Janda, Kenneth. The Challenge of Democracy. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA. 1999. (Chapter 3 & 4).
Nurse A seemed confident and calm while nurse B appeared tired. With the first patients, I noticed that both nurses were asking for first and last name and confirmed the information with the picture in the computer and the medication cup. After a few minutes, I turned my attention to nurse B because I noticed she did not ask a particular patient for his name. Instead, she relied on the name provided by a patient care technician. When she was about to give the medication to the patient, nurse A noticed that the patient on the computer screen was not the patient on the counter. She immediately told nurse B “ That is not Mr… girl ” and nurse B responded while laughing “ He looks exactly like …, I need to get some coffee ASAP”. The patient immediately realized what happened and told nurse B his name. After that, nurse B reached for the right cup and administered the medication to the patient. Even though a medication error was not committed and no harm was inflicted to the patient, by violating important QSEN competencies this incident could have caused a negative patient outcome.
The use of theme in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey brings upon the ideas of misogyny, sexual repression and freedom, and salvation from an omnipotent oppressor, through the story of Chief Bromden, who lives in an insanity ward. Even from the beginning pages of the novel, the reader is introduced to such characters as Nurse Ratched, or the “Big Nurse,” who is said to be the dictator of the ward and acts upon the ward with the utmost control. Another branch of the theme of oppressors and salvation that relates to Nurse Ratched, as well as Randle McMurphy, is the idea that they are both representatives of figures based in Catholicism. Sexual repression and freedom is seen with the ultimate punishment in the ward, a lobotomy, being stated as equivalent to castration. Both of the operations are seen as emasculating, removing the men’s personal freedom, individuality, and sexual expression, and reducing them to a child-like state. All of these different pieces of the theme relates to a powerful institution that, because of the advances of the time, such as technology and civil rights for women, is causing men to be common workers without distinctive thoughts that must fit the everyday working mold of the 1950s.
Contrary to what may seem logical, majority votes under a compulsory voting system do not necessarily represent accurate opinion. Rather, compulsion encourages apathy, characterized by “a lack of concern, enthusiasm or interest” ("Definition of Voter Apathy"). In essence, voter apathy “occurs when voters decide that they really don’t care who wins or loses” ("Definition of Voter Apathy") due to “a general feeling that a person’s vote doesn’t matter or even a distrust in regards to how the election is actually being run” ("Definition of Voter Apathy").
Hudson, William E. American Democracy in Peril: Eight Challenges to America's Future. Washington, DC: CQ, 2010. Print.
Kappel, Lawrence. Readings on One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Print.
Dye, T. R., Zeigler, H., & Schubert, L. (2012). The Irony of Democracy (15th ed.).
Hudson, William E. American Democracy in Peril: Eight Challenges to America’s Future – Fourth Edition. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2004.
...eople not voting! Americans are becoming less educated on the issues that they are facing as well as the candidates running at the time of office. However, according Longley (2011) ”Still, 93 percent of infrequent voters agreed that voting is an important part of being a good citizen and 81 percent of nonvoters agreed it is an important way to voice their opinions on issues that affect their families and communities” (pg. 1).
One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is a movie that portrays a life story of a criminal named McMurphy who is sent to a mental institution because he believes that he himself is insane. While McMurphy is in the mental ward, he encounters other patients and changes their perception of the “real” world. Before McMurphy came to the mental ward, it was a place filled with strict rules and orders that patients had to follow; these rules were created by the head nurse, Nurse Ratched. However, once McMurphy was in the ward, everything, including the atmosphere, changed. He was the first patient to disobey Nurse Ratched. Unlike other patients who continuously obeyed Nurse Ratched, McMurphy and another patient named Charlie Cheswick decided to rebel
Lastly Mills highlights how a truly democratic state can be achieved. There is a need for a public that acts a medium for true political change, skilled men who form the higher powers of the state and have no vested corporate interests, dependable parties that debate openly and lucidly the problems faced by the world and finally liberated institutions between the public and the elite that act as proponent for the public opinion.
In deciphering what constitutes the brilliance of democracy then, we find that it is not citizens’ ability to make informed decisions or an unflawed and subtly manipulated election process, but the unapparent way in which democracy persuades citizens – informed or not - and leaders – corrupt or not – toward working to build better, more prosperous societies.
is very true. It is often said that democracy is just a tyranny of the majority. This can seem true
To show that the Nurse is not very well educated she does not speak in