Democracy – do we have it?

Posted on by Opher

The idea of Democracy is that all people have a vote on decisions.

Most democracies choose to do this through elected representatives. But is this democracy? I think not.

Then there is the little matter of who has suffrage. We set an arbitrary age and exclude swathes of young people who are largely considered adults in many ways. Should that age of suffrage be lowered?

Should criminals be denied the vote?

Now we have an electronic mechanism for voting we actually have the means to enable everyone to vote on every issue. Should we introduce real democracy? After all it works on Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent. Would the electorate understand the intricacies? Would it be too open to fraud?

Can we have democracy when the media is run by people with vested interests who present lies, deception, propaganda and extreme bias? Are we being manipulated? Is subtle psychology being deployed to brainwash us?

Can we have Democracy while a party system exists? Nobody can be elected without a huge political machine behind them, a massive financial input to purchase advertising, gain media exposure and put out propaganda. Does it preclude ordinary independent people? Does it only allow the wealthy or celebrities to run for election? Do we want our country run by either people who are motivated by political dogma or the wealthy?

Do we really want democracy?

4 thoughts on “Democracy – do we have it?”

  1. But is there really ever true democracy? I don’t think we live in a democracy here. Don’t we actually live in a Republic? What’s the difference?

    1. Well I reckon a Republic has no King. It has a President. I don’t think you need one to have a democracy.

  2. Did not know that you watched such trash tv as Strictly come dancing and Britain’s got talent? Do we have Democracy, well I guess it depends on what you personally believe. Is the UK a Democracy, well take a close look at the middle eastern countries/China/North Korea and the rest.

    1. No I don’t Anna. I hate it. But my wife’s a dancer and she likes the dancing. I avoid it like the plague.
      We are a democracy but I’m not sure it works anywhere near as well as it should.

Comments are closed.