So, let us talk 'democracy', which is a buzz thing for not only those countries that can lay some claim to practising a 'democratic' form of government, but is also an aspirant virtue which even obvious dictators try to lay claim to, in defending their equally obvious absence of what they are claiming.
At its simplest, 'democracy' is a system of government whereby the country has more than one popular political parties, that contest the general elections, in order to determine which party or parties should form the government for the specified term of office, which tends to be between 4 and 7 years.
'Democracy' is predicated upon the principle of the general elections to elect the party or parties being given the electoral mandate to form the next government, being fair elections, but this is often not the case. This is because the contesting parties, whether they are in countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, the US, the Americas or the Caribbean, find various ways of compromising the fairness of these elections.
~Politicians, like religions, are able to perform master deceptions.
They usually do so by corrupt practices, including offering bribes to key individuals, or groups, using violence and threats of violence to intimidate the electorate to gain their votes or to not vote at all, or making promises they do not or cannot keep. The might also employ various institutional schemes to deprive sections of the electorate from having the right to vote, e.g., if they have any or certain types of convictions, which has been the case in some states in the United States.
And so it is that, this thing called 'democracy' can and is used by probably all countries and governments, to a lesser of greater extent, as an imperfect tool by which the elites manipulate and rule or misrule, govern or misgovern the masses, whom they claim have given a 'mandate' to be their government.
Probably the biggest short-coming of this thing called 'democracy', is the fact that it mostly enable the electorate to 'choose' who and which party or parties should form the government or should be removed from office, at election time. But it gives the electorate not power or influence over which policies the government should or should not prioritise. At least, not beyond the presumption that, if the electorate, by voting for the parties they are voting for, are aware of the parties' manifestos about the policies they would implement, if they wins the election, and is therefore 'giving' them the mandate to do so.
The evolution or development of 'democracy' has been neglected and not lived upto its true potential or promise.
This is clearly not the case, e.g., where there are many parties contesting the elections and the votes are distributed widely among them, or there are only two or three parties and most of the votes are cast for the two main ones, and the margin between them is very small.
So, considering the obvious limitations and imperfections of this thing called 'democracy', why are we not seeing any development and improvement to this system? Why is is, especially in the Western hemisphere, being allowed to become atrophied ?
Why, e.g., are election ballots not including a list of the key policies or policy priorities, such as regarding education, health, job creation and employment, defence, immigration, social welfare, with a view to the voter rating them from, say, 1-10?
Is the answer going to be that it would make things too complicated for the voter and that they would have to become more informed in order to make a more informed choice of who and which party they vote for? If so, is that going to be a sufficiently valid reason for depriving the electorate of the opportunity to make more informed choices at the ballot box?
It seems clear that people are already indicating their feelings about the imperfections of, not only 'democracy', but of their governments as a whole, by abstaining from voting in increasing percentages. Whether it is in local or national elections. They just do not trust politicians and governments to make their and/or other people's lives any better.
Unfortunately, because the misplaced idealisation of 'democracy' is serving the interests of the powerful elites, as opposed to those of the masses, they do not have any incentive or motivation to improve its structure and operation.
Yet, it is so obvious that the current system of simple or basic 'democracy' is woefully inadequate and is in need of much improvement.
In casting your vote, consider very carefully who and what you are voting for, and how likely it is to contribute towards the realisation of your goals. Remember that politicians are notorious for not keeping or being able to keep their promises, especially when they are not yet in power.
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