Winston

Just a short one, as I just woke up and should get ready for work now.

"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 others that have been tried from time to time."

If we were only to listen to our fearless leaders, democracy would surely be the best of all worlds, while the problems it entails are negligible. Not so.

Democracy as we know it is susceptible to all kinds of influences which you can observe for yourself any time. If your campaign budget is too small, you don't even need to try to run for president. If you have had a lot of media exposure, you have a very serious advantage over the other contenders. (Remember Arnie?) Powerful special interest groups can - and do - sway elections. And so on.

There is another side as well. Democracy has always been resting on the assumption that the advantages of majority-rule outweigh the disadvantages. That assumption should at least be questioned because said rule may not be the wisest.

When you look at the serious mess we have maneuvered us into, not only in the States, but in many places and not only environmentally, but also economically (Various deficits, anyone?), and socially (The widening rich - poor gap in many democracies comes to mind. There's a growing education-gap as well.), then even a person who has grown up in our cultures could have his doubts. Humans are supposedly guided by enlightened self-interest, but they are also thinking notoriously short-term and are very selfish beings. In fact, they are downright stupid. :-) To deny this would be to make the same mistake that the original theorists of socialism and communism made. Humans are highly imperfect and we have to take that into account when thinking of politics.

So why should people in Africa, in the Middle East or in Asia not come to the conclusion that democracy is not the right way for them, but the western way into decadence and destruction? Maybe to them it seems that the right way is instead guided by their religion - or whatever else they may choose. And who are we to deny them their own experiments? We've certainly tried our ways which include feudalism, slavery, and a whole host of other equally beautiful concepts. To me the righteous feeling of the people who insist that democracy is the only way to go smacks of the conviction of a fervent socialist but a short while ago.

Oh, and I almost forgot one thing. Mussolini arose out of a democracy. And so did the man with the mustache.

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