“Democracy Update and Political Perfection…”
(Copyright © by Thomas Santoro 2023)
(This blog post briefly investigates a topic covered in a book being written by Prof. Dr. Thomas Santoro). To set the record straight – politically – he is a pacifist and believes in authentic democratic values inaugurated by minds such as Thomas Jefferson. Please allow him a few observations on the status of “democracy” in our current global society…
…it seemed that finally after the collapse of the Soviet Union there was a chance for “democracy” to finally become the dominant political system in our species’ global system of politics. But apparently, decades later and heading towards a century after the defeat of fascism in Europe – the world’s political system is polarized and at least according to most of humanity’s journalists, “democracy” is in retreat and decline. With more and more investigative journalists being either murdered or intimidated each year – the lifeblood of a democracy – transparency – is evaporating as fast as fresh water from our planet.
How can this be? Isn’t a democratic system of government our species’ best hope at creating a global collective government without war and with the highest quality of life for as many of us as possible? Is not the establishment of a true democracy for the majority of the Earth’s population critical to its survival and a self-evident “happy end” result of our final journey as a species?
So why does democracy have such a difficult time succeeding against governments and political ideologies that are not democratic? Why have already established democracies and representative republics have internal anti-democratic forces to struggle with? Why has the democratization force of the Arab Spring failed? Questions, questions, questions – what about answers? How deep do we have to dig with our theoretical and philosophical shovel to get to the truth of what democracy really is and why it is ultimately our species’ greatest hope for existential survival.
Of course, the great hope of democracy still exists in our current times in one form or another. But most would agree that populism as a political force – the first step in the dictatorial process and dismemberment of true democracy – is on the march. Why? At the minimum, it has shown those interested in politics and international relations the current weaknesses in democratic systems. So what is a democratic system anyway – something that those of us who live under too often “take for granted”?
Perhaps we should allow great minds to elaborate. For instance, a classic quote is by Friedrich Nietzsche, “Out of life’s school of war—what doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger.” How does this apply to the theory of democracy? Perhaps democracy is not a political system at all – perhaps it is a philosophy of governance that must continuously grow via attacks upon it in a never ending struggle towards political perfection. Perhaps it is actually the absence of a political ideology. If that it is true then what is democracy – really?
Furthermore, another pivotal thinker in history commented on the nature of democracy:
“Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’
Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947
It never ceases to amaze me how valuable elicited knowledge can come from the most unlikely places. In the case of Winston Churchill, such an interesting comment concerning democracy coming from the representative of a culture: where he was an aristocrat, that supports a King/Queen, that has half an upper government governed by political jobs based on birth (hereditary) and that burned down the U.S. White House (President’s Home), the Capitol building, the U.S. archives, etc. on August 24, 1814…. is surprising but no less true.
But what is Winston’s main point here about democracy?
Please think about and make your own conclusions and interpretations. For me, he is saying that a perfect high quality government has not ever been created and by default – any imperfect “democracy” is what is just the remnant of something worse for The People before it existed.
…and what is left – the remnant – is just a government that allows accessibility and openness for others to manage it. Is that the main difference…that non-democratic governments manage their governments so that there is no political competition ensuring that their leadership has a monopoly on political power? Seems so. So democracy is like a garden that has been weeded and allows other diverse plants to grow…and dictatorships are gardens overrun by one type of kudzu leadership so that no other political beliefs and political powers have the opportunity to grow and share their bounty….sound plausible?
As we examine what is wrong with the global political system that we currently recognize existing or not, we might be wise to back-brain brainstorm what possible solutions there could be. In impure democracies, could it be that government controlled media and judiciary are not truly democratic – that is – tolerant of competition? To what degree does representative republic violate democratic principles before it can no longer be called a government? After all, what is genocide / ethnic cleansing for one culture is cultural accommodation / gratification for the other.
In a way, sadly, a dictatorship is more transparent than a “pseudo democracy”. For example, the fascists created a new Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda – their governmental message? “We will control our society so much that we will convince you and the majority of our society that our media is propaganda intended to enlighten you and everyone you know with the information we decide is true…and by the way, we have either killed, imprisoned, or terrorized all our political opposition so that there is no political opposition any longer to our truth. For example, if you are a sister and brother that hand out pacifist flyers against a war – we will cut your heads off with a guillotine” (true example). I do not know about you – but I find that a very transparent style of political media. Of course, if you are on the wrong side of that “political fence” you are in deep deep trouble to say the least.
Far more dangerous are partial democracies that pretend they are true direct democracies. They are in a gray political world where they are a political hybrid that is neither purely democratic, nor purely authoritarian – they are capable of heading in either direction. Which leads us to the significance of competent language usage – words are important – they represent ideas and the clearer the definition of the word – the clearer the idea communicated.
This will be dealt with more profoundly in my book regarding the perfection of democracy, so your definition of democracy is a personal thing for you as for everyone. I suggest you examine your concept of democracy now so that you have the confidence to stand behind your democratic belief system when challenged. Or better yet, if you do not live in a democracy – maybe you should understand the deeper depths of democracy and its essence to aid you in your struggle or acceptance of disillusionment.
If one feels the political pulse of the general public in representative republics, there seems to be a general angst, unease and/or frustration with elected career politicians making decisions for the democratic majority of citizens. The question here is – is the semantic accuracy of calling a representative republic a “democracy” an accurate and true definition of “democracy” or is it a misnomer and a deflection from its fakeness?
Perhaps the answer to that question is a democratic case study that began a few years back in the year 1291…
…it’s a multicultural country that has achieved an incredible level of wealth for its citizens and despite a lack of natural resources: where 15% of the citizens are millionaires, where the name of “The Leader” of the country is often not general knowledge, that has had over 700 years of peace, where any citizen can begin their own referendum, where voting happens every month, where democratic domestic opinion is more important and powerful than external foreign political pressure, etc….
…of course, you know the answer to that…
– that Switzerland is more than chocolate, expensive watches, and ski resorts for the rich. It is likely the best case we have of how a culturally diverse nation can achieve a best practices direct democracy…at least until there is a better case to learn from.
The point here is to find out what democracy means to the most democratic cultures and societies that existed or exist and from which we find out what the most accurate definition of democracy could be. It is apparent that the World Culture needs a basic benchmark for the concept of democracy.
Of course, for a particular target culture political democracy is part of a bigger puzzle – it is about the type of capitalism that democracy uses, it is about how egalitarian – rational – fair – tasteful – limiting – balanced its tax system is. It is about how “caring” its bureaucracy is for the average citizen. It is about how tolerant its government is regarding a critical “4th Branch of Government – The Media”. It is about how independent, incorruptible, accessible, and competent its judicial system is. And it is about the basic democratic expectations the average citizen – The People – has of its bureaucracy and its “representatives” – the political apparatus that “serves The People”. In other words, does a specific culture have a collective minimal democratic expectation from the very small group of people that rule them? Or in reverse, does the government rule the people, or do The People rule the government? Simple question with several possible answers.
OK – I have brought you to the point where, hopefully, we all realize that the present and future of democracy as the main way our species can “rule each other” is a concept that needs to go further in its evolutionary process. And that our species, in its entirety, has so far produced pitiful results when examining the existential requirements of a sustainable Planet Earth. Ironically, the eventual death of our species or its near extinction is a problem that ALSO faces those limited few whose greed / selfishness has stunted or crushed the growth of pure democracy and the egalitarian spread of materialism. Throughout history, this small group has protected its political base at the expense of the evolution of democracy. Ironically, democracy creates greater wealth for ALL – including those already wealthy. For lack of a better option, true democracy is a solution to our species’ survival, as well as its greatest potential for a high quality of life for a majority of global citizens.
As astronauts on the moon first saw the beauty and the minuteness of the blue and white planet that has borne us surrounded by the endless darkness of the universe – one thing is at least apparent… And what is that?
That the existence of ALL of us – every single individual in our species is 100% dependent – including all the coming children – on the health of this small third rock from the sun. That small group of humans exploiting everything they can instead of giving back more than they take – adopting the altruistic human instincts of unselfishness and sacrifice – are less humane (human?) and certainly less democratic than those who have sacrificed for egalitarian societies (Gandhi). Isn’t the concept of equality at the core of the concept of democracy? That means the powerful must sacrifice power and share the wealth and then institutionalize it in democratic constitutions and laws…
…and who of us wants to do that?