Democracy…are we too stupid to deserve it?

November 19th, 2007 Written by Biz

Ah…democracy…that magical panacea for the worlds ills. Seldom does a day go by without someone using democracy to justify some sort of incursion into another persons or another nations business. “Don’t you believe in democracy?” they ask, whilst bringing some hapless democracy bereft primitive, a goodly dose of democracy at the barrel of an M16.
                      
The truth is, that were we to stop mindlessly chanting this ridiculous mantra of blanket justification (for what cannot be, or is not currently justified by democracy?) and actually use our minds for a millisecond, then we would quickly realise that NO, we don’t really believe in democracy. Why? Well, the fact is that in a TRUE democracy, 51% of the people can do away with the rights and wishes of the other 49%.
 

What we probably have in mind when we envisage democracy is the very same system of governance that the Founding Fathers of the United States brought into existence after the War of Independence…a Constitutional Democracy.
 

Within this superb system, every sovereign individual’s rights are enshrined in a Bill of Rights and a strict Constitution clearly defines the responsibilities of and more importantly, the Boundaries of the State’s remit.
 

The Founding Fathers were wise enough to configure the United States so that power rested within the sovereign States and the people within them, and Federal interference was kept to a strict minimum. The philosophy within the several States and therefore that of the United States was one of very low or No taxation, no interference with citizens’ private affairs and no Federal interference whatsoever! Foreign policy was one of establishing trade with everyone for the common good, holding out the hand of friendship to all, but forming no binding alliances or treaties, so as not to become involved in any other countries affairs or problems.
 

Now I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a kind of democracy that is almost perfect…I’m not surprised then that the Americans fought us so hard to establish this kind system, but perfect though it is, it is vulnerable to a vital weakness which in the end, will destroy all democracies. The Founding Fathers were far sighted enough to see this…and plan for it, but before revealing what it is…have you ever wondered why the Americans are so fanatical about their ‘right to own and bear arms’?
 

The Founding Fathers foresaw that the weakness of all forms of government was synonymous with the weakness of all men…that power corrupts and that men always seek power over their fellow man. Thus by upholding every citizens’ right to own and bear arms, any government whether State or Federal seeking to usurp the rights of the citizenry, would have a fight on their hands.
 

Sadly, with all of their foresight, the Founding Fathers failed to recognise the other great enemy of democracy…the citizens themselves. And so it has unfolded in America, that the citizenry themselves through, mindless apathy have voted away all of the guarantees cited in their bill of rights…that’s the fruits of their entire history (short as it is) just given away without murmur.
 

Unfortunately, the citizenry here have never had the right to own and bare arms. If we had, do you imagine that you’d get petty Council officials trying to tell you what to do all of the time? Or the Government always finding some new tax to impose? I don’t either! We do, however, have one thing that the Americans have…an ever increasingly mindless apathy. Governments and Councils are increasingly imposing ever greater taxes, rules and legislation that impinge in ever greater degree on our sovereign privacy or our freedoms.
 

For God’s sake, lets not allow our apathy to oversee the dissolution of our rights…if we don’t like something; stand up and don’t take it…tell those Council bods where to stick their pay as you throw schemes and lets dump our rubbish on the steps of the Council headquarters! But whatever we do…let’s at least do something, otherwise very soon, we may wake up to find all our rights gone…but worse than that, we will realise that we were too stupid all along to have deserved the democracy that we lost.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entry Filed under: Rants & Views