It seems to me that the world is obsessed with the democratic ideal. The west loves fighting for the rights of all men and women to be equal and have there fair say in the governance of the country they happen to live in. The need to crush, by force when necessary, any society that doesn’t conform to this brand of “freedom” is taken as a moral imperative.
Well, I’ve gotta say, what a load of BS!!!
Sside from the gross inconsistencies and selective championing, which more often than not take the form of crushing anyone else’s freedom to choose there own system of governance, as long as there is a financial incentive to be had the system itself makes no sense (even if it is democracy in the true sense). Take the example of Guatamala in the 1950’s who pissed the USA off by (through democratic process I might add) electing a government that sought to better the life of its people by offering to purchase unused land for development from a USA based company and instituting a system of reforms for the betterment of its citizens which resulted in a hostile US sponsored coup with the objective of cementing the companies exploitative labour practices.
Recently I was talking with an accountant, he told me that the average wage per hour of an accountant or actuarial scientist far exceeded that of a medical practitioner. When I asked him how this could make sense he said simply said, a doctor is responsible for your life, but an accountant deals with your money, and for most people their money is far more important.
So lets put democracy into financial terms – a corporation is deciding on a strategic path that may result in large financial gains or losses, the democratic approach would be to call all the staff together, raise a ballot and let the majority decide. NOT!! There is not a person I know who would give a snot about what the average janitor or simple workers opinions are when it comes to the crunch.
How about taking democracy down to the medical level, a surgeon is about to make tricky decision, think he is going to call all the nurses, orderlies and general staff around to see what they think, not likely. And if he does, you better pray you aren’t the poor stiff-to-be on the cutting block.
I say again - the system simply makes no sense, the average voter is just that, average. And the majority are probably not even average in reality (ya I know that’s inconsistent but probably true). Experts are needed to make expert decisions.
But a further truth is that the democratic process as we know it, isn’t even really democratic. Just you try running for president! First you need a fortune of money to support your campaign – that eliminates already at least 70% of our population. Next you would need to be given a fair chance to state your positions – that means equal time and opportunity to state your case (even if it is undemocratic), and finally you would need to be at least be representative of the people who did vote for you.
That means that if you vote for a party that when one of its representatives then chooses to do a floor crossing – thereby no longer representing the voters who put them there, they would be tossed out of government. Or when you vote for say the DA, thereby making them representative of your opinions and policies (were there any besides “stop Zuma”???) and they choose to form a coalition with parties that you didn’t vote for, you would be able to say, hold on, that’s not what I wanted.
Once again I say it doesn’t make any sense.
Share Moral Fibre - it's the right thing to do
