Democracy - What Democracy?

Democracy is supposed to be a process whereby the people elect, by majority, those that will represent them in the running of their country. Therefore, whoever is elected should have been favoured by the majority of the people over which they will reign.

So much for theory!

If I make the assumption that America is a democratic country, then I have to assume that the majority of Americans want George W Bush to run America. However, due to the nature of the American election process, I see no way to either prove or disprove that.

Now, George W Bush has taken it upon himself, on behalf of the American people, to confront Terrorism, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan (to name but a few). In doing so, he has sought allies around the world to, at least, give the whole thing the look of international action (surely the provence of the UN rather than any single nation - is that not what it was set up for).

However, given the world population, Americans alone do not constitute a majority and only Americans can vote for their President. Therefore, the majority of the world (by a considerable margin) have had no say in who is the 'world policeman'.

Some of America's 'allies' have been coerced into that position by America's economic power and military might. Like the President of Pakistan is doing his political future heaps of good by siding with America (What was the phrase used by Bush - Side with us or we will bomb you back into the stone age).

So, the power of the UN, which was set up to handle international disputes in a democratic fashion, has been usurped by the leader of one nation. This leader has stated that he is doing these things to 'allow' these countries to 'enjoy' the benefits of democracy. Isn't this exactly the 'crime' levelled at the Soviet Union? And the Nazis before them - all the way back to the Romans really? Exporting their political idiology by force?

I live in a democratic country and have a vote in who I want to run my country (and voting is mandatory - unlike the US), but I've had no opportunity to vote for or against George Bush to run the world. Where is the the democracy in that? And that doesn't sound like an attractive package to sell to those countries that do not have a democratic tradition.

So, what, exactly do we have here..... Is the War on Terror simply an act of revenge for 9/11, with 'allies' pressured into support, or is it a matter of the people of the rest of the world not deserving to have a say about how their world is being run. Or is it simply the flexing of America's economic and military might, regardless of whatever anyone else might think.

If it's a matter of America not giving a damn about what the people of the world think, then I see no difference between that and the early 20th Century Germanic superior race theories which brought Adolf Hitler to power.

I see no democracy at work here. Show me how this is in any way democratic!


[edit on 15/10/06 by The Winged Wombat]

To sum it up for you..

The United States is NOT a true democracy. It makes no efforts to be a true democracy, and never will be a true democracy. The United States is a Republic of democratic states.

This means that in all areas of the Federation each state elects representitives to do their will. The people of the United States do not directly control the federal government in ANY WAY, save for directly voting for changes to the United States Constitution.

So yes, so much for that theory.

Democracy is the blind choosing someone who is blind to lead people who are blind in the direction of a destination they can not see.

Originally posted by Esoteric Teacher
Democracy is the blind choosing someone who is blind to lead people who are blind in the direction of a destination they can not see.

and once they arrive, they still won't see where it is they are.

HankMcCoy,

That is pretty much the same in any democracy - each state or electorate elects a representative or a number of representatives, but most democracies have these representatives govern them rather than have a President over them who appears to ride roughshod over everything.

But, in your opinion, what form of democracy is America trying to introduce into other countries? And is this a good idea anyway?

Remember that democracy only seems to work as a political system when there are only two major parties. The introduction of democracy after WWI in Germany lead to the government being fragmented by the large number of political parties, none of whom seemed to be able to work with any other party. Therefore nothing of significance got done and that created a window of opportunity for Hitler to come to power.

Similar situations of government ineffectiveness due to the splittering of political support between multiple parties has severely affected countries in Asia, the Middle East and some Meditteranean countries. If you have too many parties, then you have no clear majority and democracy becomes totally ineffective.

I have no idea what might be a viable alternative to democracy, but it clearly does not work for everyone. Communism promised everyone a say in running the state, but that just broke down into an overwhelming beaurocracy that suffocated under its own weight.