The nature of democracy
Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. 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.
“Democracy”. It’s such a resonant word, is it not? Redolent with aeons of history and associated with noble intent and the blessing of the people. Great quotes are attached to it, great store is set by it, and wars are fought to promote it … which should really give you an inkling that it might, actually, not be “all that”.
The idea of democracy is that it allows the people to have a say. It blesses politicians’ objectives with the imprimatur of “the people”.
I would like to ask you to reflect on the following points, however:
- The winners of the previous election had the votes of approximately 35% of the electorate, yet ruled with an unassailable majority. One-third of the electorate got to tell two-thirds of the electorate how to live their lives. And remember, one-third of the electorate is not one-third of the population, even!
- This is not an endorsement of proportional representation per se, for even if there was some sort of coalition cobbled together that got 50.1% of the vote, that would still mean that half the electorate was telling the other half how to live their lives. And even if 80% or 90% of the electorate endorse one approach, the remaining 20% or 10% are effectively told their opinions are valueless.
- Politicians’ objectives, as sold to “the people”, are meaningless. We had a recent court case where the Labour Party argued in court that their election manifesto was something they didn’t have to even try to follow. Needless to say, the court agreed. So, we may think we’re giving our imprimatur to their stated objectives, but in reality, we are merely giving them permission to do whatever they see fit.
- Yesterday’s display that the two parties who lost the most votes could actually cobble together a majority with a bunch of people that represent the interests of almost no-one.
Given the above points, do you not think the image of democracy is somewhat different from the reality? Do you really think that democracy is noble, great and important? Do you even think it’s useful?
Or do you think that you may just be contributing to a massive charade that is ultimately pointless: whoever you vote for, the government always gets in!
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- May 11, 2010 at 09:27
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
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1
May 11, 2010 at 08:42 -
Do you think if voting changed anything, they would allow it?
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2
May 11, 2010 at 09:28 -
This discussion is pointless, especially as we have the greatest dictatorship on earth in charge of our country!
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3
May 11, 2010 at 09:33 -
A first question might be : what is democracy ? Taking the Greek roots, ΔΗΜΟΣ and ΚΡΑΤΙΑ, one comes up with rule by the villages (or at least their representatives) ; this is substantially what the British think they have : each village (constituency) elects its representative (M.P.) and the M.P.s form the legislature.
The problem revolves around the definition of village and the fact that all can vote and with equal weight (something the people of fifth-century Athens — supposedly the krater in which the blend was made — would not have understood) : what you have in a system of universal equal suffrage is ochlocracy (mob rule ; ΟΧΛΟΣ : a mob).
Once having conceded universal equal suffrage, how the devil do you retract it ?
ΠΞ
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4
May 11, 2010 at 09:47 -
Pericles,
To answer your question – you don’t. Instead you use technology to make it happen.
We have the technology today (think mobile phone) that would allow everyone in the UK to vote on everything that the pollis vote on. The only problem with that is that it would remove the political class and they wouldn’t allow that, therefore it will not happen.
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5
May 11, 2010 at 09:48 -
What you describe is true, but all the more true because we have such BIG government. BIG government handles far too much of our daily lives, and the bigger it is the more likely it treads its hobnailed boots over the majority who didn’t vote for them. Those who disagree have nowhere to run. Everywhere is the same, the long arm of government reaches every corner of the nation.
This is why, not just democracy, but SMALL government is necessary. In previous generations, if we didn’t like the way the country was run, we could always flee to the New World, be it America, Australia or Canada and start over as a pioneer. That is now out of the question, these countries at least have immigration policies, which even if we could pass the test would only let us into another rising version of the UK!
We need Small Government, that only handles the basic necessities of a nation like defense and foreign policy, but leaves the local region with responsibility of the rest. We then have the freedom to choose a town or county which serves best our view of life. Profligate local authorities would then pay for their own errors, as indeed they should. If a locality wants huge public services then let THEM pay for it, out of local taxation. Let them suffer if they make stupid choices. Let the population take PERSONAL responsibility once again instead of demanding that THE GOVERNMENT should do something for them.
Control freaks love the sort of government we have these days, as long as they are on control at one level or another. Unfortunately the Welfare State system we have created in the UK since the war has merely infantilised the population making them willing pram dwellers. It is time to wake up.
Control freak governments hand out our hard earned money to the pram dwellers in greater and greater quantities because they know it buys them votes so they can stay longer in power and build a bigger and bigger voting base. God help us, this totally is fake democracy.
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6
May 11, 2010 at 10:13 -
Churchill said ” No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.”
The current breed of charlatans do precisely that. That those in Government have been allowed, for decades, to insist the Government is all but infallable is inherently due to Parliament ceeding ground and authority to Government.
There are too few Parliamentarians in Parliament these days. Too many of them want to be in Government and if, not resort to toeing the party line and retreating from their duties to us to hold the Government to account, to become a glorified social worker.
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7
May 11, 2010 at 10:33 -
I agree with Bob. Pity Cameron, Clegg and Broon do not.
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8
May 11, 2010 at 11:19 -
Pericles points out the derivation of the “village” as the ancient origin of the exercise of democracy – how come we now have the village idiot representing us today?
Perhaps we should concern ourselves with the make-up of the constituency party members who select candidates. The power of minority, fanatic interests may propel a clone at worst or automaton tradition – a patsy at best. Little wonder the chap who changed his name by Deed Poll to ‘None of the Above’ did so well?
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9
May 11, 2010 at 13:24 -
It has been said that we imagine the past and remember the future. The very idea of a democracy is a comfortable myth perpetuated by our media and educators – and tenderly clutched in the popular imagination like a child’s favourite teddy bear. The brutal fact is that government has never operated in the interests of the public: it has always faithfully kowtowed to the huge commercial and financial interests that have really called the shots. It’s a tragedy and an indictment on out political classes that military personnel continue to die in Afghanistan to preserve what is nothing more than an illusion.
Frank Zappa rightly observed that politics is the entertainment side of industry. If that is the case (and I have no reason to believe otherwise), then ‘democracy’ is the stage on which the pantomime is played. -
10
May 11, 2010 at 20:16 -
“There are too few Parliamentarians in Parliament these days. Too many of them want to be in Government and if not, resort to toeing the party line and retreating from their duties to us to hold the Government to account, to become a glorified social worker.”
Thank you, Alan. You have put into a nutshell what is wrong with our MPs today. Indeed, I would go further and say that too many of them are only interested in being in Government. Without parliamentarians, PR will never work, as current events so amply demonstrate.
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