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| Why Democracy Doesn't Work |
January 25 2008
Europeans and North Americans live as part of democracies whose principles are modeled loosely after the government structure of ancient Athens. The word "democracy" itself comes from two Greek words "demo" and "kratia" that mean something like "rule by the people" when they are used together. Some levels of Athenian government were filled by ordinary citizens who had been chosen by lot, but democracy usually means government by elected representatives who have been chosen by the people.
When the Greeks tried direct democracy through choosing government members by lot, the results were sporadic. Depending on who got chosen, the resulting governing body might be very efficient or hopelessly inept. At first glance, it seems a much better system to have professionals running for office, with the people voting for those whom they consider to be the best qualified. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't work all that well either.
I'll skip over the issues of spin doctoring and vote rigging that often result in incompetent clods getting elected. Even if all the candidates running for office are very qualified and if the election is honest, the results can be bad for the voters.
First, politicians are like the rest of us in that they're motivated primarily by self interest. Despite all of their lofty talk about public service, most people run for office because of what winning the election can do for them. Even those candidates who are idealistic at the start may soon become cynical after they see how government actually works. Many elected officials may begin taking bribes or abusing their spending budgets to feather their own nests, the voters be damned.
Even honest candidates have a dilemma. Running for office costs huge amounts of money for advertising, travel and other campaign costs. The time is long gone when a candidate could just stand up in the town square or at a civic meeting and make a speech. If somebody wants to take a serious run at election these days, then he or she needs backers who have deep pockets. After the candidate gets elected, those backers will expect him or her to vote their way. Otherwise, there won't be any money for the next campaign.
Even stringent limits on campaign contributions won't change this situation. The wealthy will always find ways to funnel "soft money" to candidates who will play ball with them. If nothing else, they can make it clear that well paying directorships and other jobs will be available to cooperative legislators after they retire. That's why the voters often throw out one party and elect another, only to find that not much changes in the way that things are done.
So the reality of democracy is that it isn't rule by the people so much as it is rule by a rich and powerful minority. While even our limited democracy is preferrable to a brutal dictatorship, the truth is that it doesn't work all that well for most of us.
Have you got any ideas about how we could have a better system? If so, I'd like to know about them.
George
P.S. For some free short stories, come to my website at: www.checkmatefiction.com
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Posted by gjcondon on 2008-01-25 13:51:06 | Rating: | Views: 139
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