Democracy.
Posted: Saturday, April 23, 2011
by Terrence Aubrey
Terrence
“No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”
“Sir Winston Churchill”.
Whilst we all focus on the events unfolding within the Middle East, how many of us fall victim to feelings of smugness, or over confidence. We are all right; we already have Democratic systems. Are you sure and is what we think of as Democracy the best system of governance in the 21st Century?
So up until this moment in time Democracy is clearly the best system of government we have found to date, but is it good enough and is this system capable of surmounting the immense problems the World and Mankind is facing in the 21st Century?
The disappointing truth is that Democracy has to date been unable to seriously instigate the serious changes needed within the way we the human race live upon Planet Earth and share in any fair way the bounty that earth has provided us and this in turn has resulted in our seeming incapability to either prevent, or even reduce the damage created by our very styles of life.
How serious are these failings? This is very difficult to know precisely, but it does seem that the very lifestyles adopted and practised throughout the majority of developed countries are in fact incompatible with the sustainability of life on earth.
Why are democratic countries unable to confront and deal effectively with these “uncomfortable truths”? Within the developed world there exists alongside the democratically elected politicians, that by their very nature come and go, a ruling elite.
How important are these ruling elites? They are astonishingly powerful in that they control and govern the very glue of what we regard as “civilisation”. The energies with which we light, heat, or cool our houses, cities and countries. Our means of rapid communication of idea’s and information, transportation and of course the huge banks. Unfortunately their interests seem to be limited to the economic and political might that they currently enjoy and the continuance of their effective power and control rather than the wider interest of what might in fact be the very survival of mankind.
The failure of Democracy to respond to the increasingly powerful indications of climate change has in reality been due to the economic repercussions that the required changes would inevitably instigate and this is due in part to the uncomfortable relationships within democracies between the elected politicians and these ruling elites.
So is it time for a new system, a system capable of instigating the deep and profound changes that it seems with increasing urgency we need to make and if so what credentials would this new system need to succeed?
Clearly it will need to be a system that can seriously and sincerely represent the interests of the masses, irrespective of the disagreement, or applied pressures of these unelected power brokers.
Can such a new system evolve naturally and harmoniously from the democratic systems we currently enjoy? Quite possibly not and ironically it might in fact mirror the struggles that we are currently witnessing within the Middle East. Terrence Aubrey, Confidential Matchmakers.
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Top-level comments on this article: (6 total)Interesting article with some very good points here Terrence.I am pleased that the article was of interest to you David.
Great originality of thought. It's easy to say things which have been said a 100 times already, like "democracy is great". It's difficult to come up with original thinking and questions, like you've done. Thanks for the article.Thank you for your thoughtful comment Sulagna
The form of government chosen by a people is basically of no consequence as long as it is benevolent in it's interaction with the masses that it is tasked to govern. It is the monetary system and it's ability to create wealth and the ability of the system to properly finance the civil requirements of a society, along with the discipline it takes among the ruling elite to realize it's responsibility not to skewer the capital gains too much in their own favor, leaving the rest of society with too little for too many and robbing the society of it's ability to properly provide for the citizenry of the society and the ability to properly maintain a working, sustainable infrastructure. A reasonably financed middle class is the only way for a civil society to withstand the test of time which the U.S. has enjoyed for hundreds of years now and as we see disintegrating with the redistribution of wealth towards the economic elite that has our country crumbling piece by piece with no capital reinvestment by those that have captured too large a majority of the countries wealth and use the money instead to buy the votes within our government to further stuff their mattresses. Greed is the common denominator among all failed political systems and will be with democracy as well.Reading your comment David, which essentially I agree with reinforces my observation that the world is crazy! The ruling elite need thriving and healthy economies, families and individuals, they are the consumers of whatever they are providing. Can you make any logical sense of what seems to be happening?
Within the body of the article I offered the suggestion that perhaps we are ready for the next, super improved method of Governance.
Both Communism and Capitalism have been shown to be wanting, so what about "Realism" You read it here first folkes, and within this system people will be rewarded in direct proportion to that which they actually contribute to the well being and betterment of society. May not be very popular with Pop Stars, Film Stars, Footballers and the funny money financial whizkids, but you cannot please all the people all of the time.......
You will have to allow me a day, or two to flesh out the details, Lol, perhaps you could give me a hand here David?
I've thought about this quite alot. Despite how awful other countries are doing and how "good" our's appears to be doing, I don't feel safe as a country because I know things are going on, just under the sugar coated surface of America. The way things are going, all hell could break loose here at any moment. We feel safe, but it's just a superficial, false feeling of safety. With the things I'm seeing and hearing on the news lately and in general, I'm quite worried about where this country is headed. Fantastic article, thanks for sharing.I am European, consequently your grasp of the "pulse" of America will be far greater than mine, but I was describing what we call and regard as democracy as practised across the world. I guess the thought behind the article is that we are only as unempowered as we allow ourselves to be, hence my reference to what is taking place in the Middle East, these people probably enjoyed less rights than a pet dog in America and yet they came together and said enough is enough! Thanks for the comment Sydney.Any somewhat organized revolt is in direct response to the numbers of people adversely effected by a ruling parties policies. As the distribution of wealth in America continues to shift disproportionately to the wealthiest Americans, so too will the amount of families that are having a harder and harder time providing life sustaining necessities for their families. You can starve the life out of a man, but you can't starve his family until he has no life left.As you know David I am European, America is not unique, so far as the wealth distribution within its society is concerned. The "so called" bailed out countries of Greece and Ireland have almost lost whatever democracy they might have enjoyed and are being squeezed and being dictated to by both the powerful EEC countries and the ECB.
Whether the populations will tolerate this pressure remains to be seen. If you are interested I have left many comments with the WSJ.
I read your article "Democracy" and the comments it has received with interest. I'm gratified to see that there are still thinking people in this world. As I see it this is a world wide problem not restricted to any one nation alone. It is going to require a world wide solution for this situation to be resolved if it can be resolved. That being said, I do not advocate any form of world wide government. The situation we currently find ourselves involved in is very little different than the "feudal" system of the middle ages where the elite owned everything and the average man lived at their convenience. I do not see any change from that basic system anywhere in the world, today. As far as Democracy is concerned, as I understand it, it is the rule of the majority, sounds a lot like mob rule to me. I am also not aware of any Democracy that exists in this world, today. I hear uninformed references to the U.S. as being a Democracy which it is not. The U.S. is a Constitutional Republic, at least according to it's own Constitution. I do not have the answers but, if enough genuinely sincere people put their heads together, an answer can be found.A very articulate an thoughtful comment Jim, particularly your allusion to the fuedal system of the middle ages, a system that we assumed we had collectively progressed from eons ago.
What is the answer, that is the question that I attempted to present, or do we continue to fool ourselves that everything is just fine.............The uprisings within the middle east and north africa have clearly inspired many people worldwide. Similar uprisings have now appeared in the so called democratic countries of the "Free West?" Spain, Greece and other countries.
What are they protesting? The gross inequality that these systems propigate, the politicians, the bankers and the ruling elites.
Can a fairer and more just system of government, democracy and society be concieved, invented? Without a doubt, but just as the dictactors have clung to their positions of power and wealth so will the benefactors of the current form of governance.
Interesting topic, Terrence. I find it fascinating that in America our elections almost always come down to which candidate has the most money to spend on his or her campaign, and yet we still call this a democracy. Our Supreme Court has even ruled that corporations must have the unfettered ability to donate money to candidates as a matter of freedom of speech. I'm not as familiar with what is going on with the rest of the World, but it sure seems like the U.S.A. is baking a recipe for oligarchy.There is one huge problem with what we loosely term "Democracy". Our choice is very limited, plus we must vote for politicians!
I guess I am a dreamer, (but I,m not the only one), but I believe that anyone with political ambitions should automatically be barred from holding public office. Then perhaps we might end up with some genuinely selfless leaders that will really put the people and the country first...........Hey ho.
Unless of course you believe Sarah Palin and Donald Chump are just what America and the world need just now.
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