When Voters Put Themselves Above Their Vote, Democracy Is Bound to Fail

When Voters Place Themselves Above Their Vote, Democracy Begins to Crumble

For years, many citizens of this nation have displayed a troubling intellectual complacency through the leaders they elevated—leaders who, once placed in power, misled the nation and eroded its institutional guardrails.

What made the situation worse was not merely the choice of leadership, but the public’s refusal to acknowledge when that leader stepped beyond constitutional limits. Instead of questioning these violations, many considered it inconvenient—or even unnecessary—to confront the repeated assaults on the soul of our constitutional order.

This silence was rooted in a mistaken belief: that the “spirit of the vote” would always outweigh the “spirit of the Constitution.” People assumed that electoral legitimacy alone could overpower constitutional principles, even as those principles were openly undermined.

But this confidence was misplaced. A democracy in which citizens refuse to internalize even a fraction of the constitutional ethos is a democracy preparing for its own collapse.

Yes, the spirit of the vote holds power. But its legitimacy flows from something greater. When the will of the voters collides with the foundational ideals embraced by the nation—and respected across the world—an outcome that once appeared certain can unravel with stunning force.

That is exactly what happened. Though treated as a distant observer in the political contest, the Constitution ultimately proved stronger than the spirit of the vote.

How did a victory that seemed inevitable fall apart so completely?

The answer is simple: voters placed themselves above the meaning of their vote, while the guardians of the Constitution placed the Constitution above themselves. This fundamental misalignment flipped the outcome on its head.

In any healthy democracy, the spirit of the vote should prevail—but only when it remains anchored to constitutional integrity. When the spirit of the vote is weakened or dismissed, democracy itself begins to suffer.

And the greatest responsibility for this loss lies with those who failed to defend that spirit—those who watched in silence as it eroded before them.

Yet not all is lost. Recovery is possible—not through supermajorities or through rewriting or dismantling the Constitution, but by transcending it, by absorbing its principles as a society. This is the hardest path, but it is the only raj marg available to restore the sanctity of the vote.