Tuesday, April 04, 2006
The Fundamental Problem of Democracy
The reader is probably asking himself, "Who would ever try to entitle an article like that?" This is one author who should not surprise you in this regard. As modern people call for the expansion of democracy, and differing governments claim to have the same thing, but have wars over that "same thing," I ask my self, why haven't we learned anything in the last six thousand years of history?
Venezuela's democracy is trying to start an arms race with the USA's democracy. Brazil and China try to forge a new definition of democracy. Europe has fights, but insists on forging its new definition of democracy. Democracy is resulting in street mobs dominating society in France. Iran's alternative form of democracy is asserting its independence. Israel and the whole Middle East continue to fight over what it means to be democratic.
Democracy is such an overused term that it has come to mean really anything at any time. It essentially is the claim that the power goes to the people. The problem is in deciding what power and which people.
You see, as badly as we may berail the oligarchy, it has never and it will never go away. Someone will always rule someone else. In democracy, it is really exxagerated because of the dominance of the mob. That is, without checks and balances, the shrillest and most violent voices are always the ones that rule.
I believe that government should be accountable, so much so that I believe every government position should be up for election, right down to teachers and secretaries, and dog catchers, and every beurocratic administrator. However, government accountability does not prevent the abuse of power.
What really gets my goad is when I see society broken down into demographs that now lobby for their agenda. The students lobby for their agenda, the retirees want what's coming to them, the farmers fight to maintain subsidies, the women's vote, the black vote, the gay vote, the christian vote, the workers vote, blah, blah, blah. This is not even rule by majority, it is rule by largest demograph. What has been happening with riots in the streets around the world (called protests by sypathetics) and especially in France has been an example of how the mob can take democracy and turn it into a real hand to hand street fight. Why, because no matter what form of human government we may choose, it is human and therefore corrupt. I wish I had a good alternative, but I do not. I only wait, hoping for a supernatural intervention.
Venezuela's democracy is trying to start an arms race with the USA's democracy. Brazil and China try to forge a new definition of democracy. Europe has fights, but insists on forging its new definition of democracy. Democracy is resulting in street mobs dominating society in France. Iran's alternative form of democracy is asserting its independence. Israel and the whole Middle East continue to fight over what it means to be democratic.
Democracy is such an overused term that it has come to mean really anything at any time. It essentially is the claim that the power goes to the people. The problem is in deciding what power and which people.
You see, as badly as we may berail the oligarchy, it has never and it will never go away. Someone will always rule someone else. In democracy, it is really exxagerated because of the dominance of the mob. That is, without checks and balances, the shrillest and most violent voices are always the ones that rule.
I believe that government should be accountable, so much so that I believe every government position should be up for election, right down to teachers and secretaries, and dog catchers, and every beurocratic administrator. However, government accountability does not prevent the abuse of power.
What really gets my goad is when I see society broken down into demographs that now lobby for their agenda. The students lobby for their agenda, the retirees want what's coming to them, the farmers fight to maintain subsidies, the women's vote, the black vote, the gay vote, the christian vote, the workers vote, blah, blah, blah. This is not even rule by majority, it is rule by largest demograph. What has been happening with riots in the streets around the world (called protests by sypathetics) and especially in France has been an example of how the mob can take democracy and turn it into a real hand to hand street fight. Why, because no matter what form of human government we may choose, it is human and therefore corrupt. I wish I had a good alternative, but I do not. I only wait, hoping for a supernatural intervention.
