Democracy's Flaws

With the world in turmoil, we in the West do think that  changing all countries to a democratic form of government would solve many problems. Let’s examine that premise. Real democratic reform takes a long time. The western countries took hundreds of years before workable versions were established. Going in, overthrowing kingdoms, dictatorships or religious driven societies and then, through elections establish a new way of government was not very successful. It is naïve to think that it solves any problems. Hamas was elected in the Gaza strip, the Egyptians elected the Muslim Brotherhood. Majority rule made the situation worse instead of better. Even in the western nations it took a long time to get it to work in a fashion. First only landowners could vote and  women were excluded. Minority rights had to be fought for and true representation of the “common folk” is still a big problem. In the emerging nations democracy often ends up as the “dictatorship” of the majority and minority rights go out of the window. Religion also plays a big role. Often the elected representatives are heavenly influenced by non- elected powerful religious leader who reside not only inside but also out side the nation.  Even the Leaders of the most powerful nation on Earth have often consulted with unelected religious leaders.

The powerful people who control the money, often “buy“ the people’s choice and have an undue influence on the policy makers. Paid for, deceitful propaganda, is used to create fear. Fear is the greatest motivator. The right and the left make extensive use of the fear factor to get people to even vote against their own interest.  In Canada with a three party system, the government can form a majority government with less than 40% of the vote and ignore the majority of the voters.

The emerging nations, overthrowing dictatorships must first learn to respect the minorities in their country. We also must constantly try to fix the flaws in our system as well and through our influence help the emerging nations to establish true democracies were minority rights are protected and the influence of unelected religious leaders, who claim to have received their power from a deity, is minimized. The influence of the Rich can only be curbed by strict election laws.

Good luck with that, we have a long way to go!