Whether it be a cornerstone of modern civilization or the dream and goal of (some) developing countries, democracy is not merely a way of life but ‘the’ way of life to many millions world-wide.

Elections come and elections go, as do leaders and entire political parties and movements, and yet it seems that the entire process is becoming more and more frivolous as time goes by. Elections are won and lost over the price of tuna and bread. Presidents are impeached over being less than open about personal affairs while others remain after convincing the rest of the country to enter into a bloodbath war for reasons ever mutating and increasingly difficult to believe. Shouts for freedom by the strong intermingle with secret service agents silencing the weak.

And hence we step off of the glittery threshold of democracy and delve deeper into the core to understand what it, in its present form, is really all about.

Democracy, as a concept, entails choice based upon majority. In typical form, this translates to the choice of one’s leader through use of election as the means of choosing. In traditional society this also means that in choosing one’s leader one generally subscribes to the viewpoints of the chosen one and hence therefore the leader is mandated to manifest those viewpoints.

Now this is all very nice and all but one cannot forget that for every majority short of a totality there is a minority. Furthermore not all individuals making up a democratic society are party to the same circumstances - Many individuals are unique in their outlook in one way or another.

Democracy is a matter of choice but such choice is taken by a population with a spectrum of interests… which means that democracy as we know it caters only for those of mainstream interests. This consequently means that there are “minorities” whose interests are not catered for.

Therefore democracy as it is commonly practiced could be referred to as “tyranny by majority” where majorities are given artificial right by the system to impose their interests upon minorities. Hence “freedom” is enjoyed by the majority of any era… and whom also have the mandate to decide that said freedom is alive and well, their voice forming the majority while minority opinions fall by the wayside.

Freedom indeed…

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Contemplations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.