Magazine
Democracy: Beyond the ballot box
A voter shows her indelible ink mark after casting her ballot at Bhaderwah, during the second phase of India’s General Election this year. Photo/FILE
Posted Monday, November 2 2009 at 00:00
The Greeks and Romans tried it 2,000 and more years ago.
But it died out and was only revived on a significant scale within the past 100 or so years.
The United States claim they have been democrats since their revolution in the late 1700s.
But initially, like the Greeks, only white men voted.
Women and slaves were excluded, and African Americans didn’t get real freedom to vote until the 1960s — that is 200 years later.
In Britain, adult women did not get the vote until 1928.
In a nutshell, the system of one adult, one vote is historically new and is not well tested.
Most of humanity’s great religions and philosophies, and the material advances associated with being civilised, arose without democracy.
To the contrary, most advancement has occurred under autocratic regimes, suggesting that democracy may not be necessary for human welfare.
The USA, which presents itself as the exemplar of modern democracy, is run by two political parties — Republicans and Democrats.
It seems odd for so wealthy and populous a nation to only have two schools of political thinking.
Is there no alternative to parties and party lines being the only way democracies can function?
Indeed, there is something very ugly about the amount of money the two American parties and their representatives spend to get votes.
It suggests that modern democracy is so expensive that even the wealthiest societies cannot afford more than a few choices.
If those with the deepest pockets get the most votes — and it is difficult to avoid that conclusion — then the lofty ideals of democracy become no more than a commercial operation.
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