Democracy, in Effect
I've been drafting my illiterate hubris on Democracy for about as long as an American primary. (That's a long time.) Meanwhile, Democracy, has made quite an appearance in the coming new year challenging its definition in exotic countries worldwide.
Looting. Slaying.
Assasinations. Bloodshed.Fraud.
That's what democracy looks like.
And it is democracy that Big Brother is always championning with its patrimonial elastic that snaps the backside of other namely rogueish countries. You can imagine the Executive desk tapping its fingers waiting for the appointed pundit in power, like say Musharaff, to call and beg.
What denotes democracy foremost is the right to vote, something ambiguously interpreted in say, Saudi Arabia or Nairobi. To be more accurate, it is not the right to vote but to feel that you don't have a bullet being held to your head in doing so. To maximise that point, being able to enlist to vote without impedement, casting your vote without fear of reprisal and finally, having a selection of options to choose from in a competitive election would best define that virtue of voters' freedom.
The second tenant of democracy founded on freedom of speech and freedom of the press would seem elcipsed by a liberal application of economics and free trade policies which take precedence before private enterprise can flourish and speak, print, and lambast the State. Russia's press exemplifies that compromise.
In the globalised world, where capitalism is the only ticket to participate, there is an assumption that democracy is part and parcel of governance. But Afghanistan, Congo and Russia are not one in the same and should be examined as a misnomer in comparative democracies because the Western eye will only see its limitations under that title.
Isn't it a bit anachronistic for countries and lands older than Christ himself, to foist it onto peoples who have known leadership to be ruled by force or by few-- such sundry regions with a geology built out of sand? Where the columns that contain such a fragile notion could be blown from whence it was erected.
Democracy as learned from the books, as studied by our French forebearers, has been hoisted from its electable throne and relegated itself to something else in effect. The term can be found in the Index of Cliches, if not propanganda speech and therefore imperialist in its forcible application. The term is moot.
There comes a time when words must be founded for periods of time where transition is at foot and the ground is not quite ready for a formal definition. Interim governments are only implemented after the storm of poltical unrest. For those governments in full form, like using Russia again, you couldn't quite say, an 'aspiring' democracy. Nor would 'emerging' or 'efflourescing' pretty it may sound, need apply.
Whereas, capitalism takes on different terms like 1st, 2nd and 3rd worlds- before ethnographers threw that out with the baby's bathwater- democracy on the other hand, seems to only take on different etymological forms when you look at say, Scandinavian countries. In Norway, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, socialist principles are equally vetted with oil shares.
Moralists and human rights proponents would argue that democracy is fundamental to man and it is not an option to inveigh as to who deserves democracy. Americans would argue that freedom is a god-given right, that being a euphemism for so many things now, 'freedom.' With each unique case for democracy, it appears to have no gravitas.
If we are to examine liber-tay, fraterni-tay, egali-tay, the only examples of exercising the virtues full throttle is none other than les jeunes francais or one could argue, Kenyans, who are fighting for a democratically elected regime.
Bringing it full circle, one could say that Jane doe from Miami Beach is rallying and exercising freedom in full force for the primaries. But as soon as we hear on the news that Florida's votes have been counted and that they don't mean anything because the delegates haven't casted their votes yet, no less the democratic party's votes will not be held for holding their pre-election too early, one scratches their head. What? My vote doesn't count?
Therein lies the complexity of our democratic elections. For an American, voting is a form of power and that source of pride is under a false pretense. Until serious campaign financing caps are reformed and electoral colleges are eliminated, we're still being distracted by voter outcomes, false ones. Little debacles like Ohio. Like Florida. Something obviously, the States has bungled. Twice...
Looting. Slaying.
Assasinations. Bloodshed.Fraud.
That's what democracy looks like.
And it is democracy that Big Brother is always championning with its patrimonial elastic that snaps the backside of other namely rogueish countries. You can imagine the Executive desk tapping its fingers waiting for the appointed pundit in power, like say Musharaff, to call and beg.
What denotes democracy foremost is the right to vote, something ambiguously interpreted in say, Saudi Arabia or Nairobi. To be more accurate, it is not the right to vote but to feel that you don't have a bullet being held to your head in doing so. To maximise that point, being able to enlist to vote without impedement, casting your vote without fear of reprisal and finally, having a selection of options to choose from in a competitive election would best define that virtue of voters' freedom.
The second tenant of democracy founded on freedom of speech and freedom of the press would seem elcipsed by a liberal application of economics and free trade policies which take precedence before private enterprise can flourish and speak, print, and lambast the State. Russia's press exemplifies that compromise.
In the globalised world, where capitalism is the only ticket to participate, there is an assumption that democracy is part and parcel of governance. But Afghanistan, Congo and Russia are not one in the same and should be examined as a misnomer in comparative democracies because the Western eye will only see its limitations under that title.
Isn't it a bit anachronistic for countries and lands older than Christ himself, to foist it onto peoples who have known leadership to be ruled by force or by few-- such sundry regions with a geology built out of sand? Where the columns that contain such a fragile notion could be blown from whence it was erected.
Democracy as learned from the books, as studied by our French forebearers, has been hoisted from its electable throne and relegated itself to something else in effect. The term can be found in the Index of Cliches, if not propanganda speech and therefore imperialist in its forcible application. The term is moot.
There comes a time when words must be founded for periods of time where transition is at foot and the ground is not quite ready for a formal definition. Interim governments are only implemented after the storm of poltical unrest. For those governments in full form, like using Russia again, you couldn't quite say, an 'aspiring' democracy. Nor would 'emerging' or 'efflourescing' pretty it may sound, need apply.
Whereas, capitalism takes on different terms like 1st, 2nd and 3rd worlds- before ethnographers threw that out with the baby's bathwater- democracy on the other hand, seems to only take on different etymological forms when you look at say, Scandinavian countries. In Norway, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, socialist principles are equally vetted with oil shares.
Moralists and human rights proponents would argue that democracy is fundamental to man and it is not an option to inveigh as to who deserves democracy. Americans would argue that freedom is a god-given right, that being a euphemism for so many things now, 'freedom.' With each unique case for democracy, it appears to have no gravitas.
If we are to examine liber-tay, fraterni-tay, egali-tay, the only examples of exercising the virtues full throttle is none other than les jeunes francais or one could argue, Kenyans, who are fighting for a democratically elected regime.
Bringing it full circle, one could say that Jane doe from Miami Beach is rallying and exercising freedom in full force for the primaries. But as soon as we hear on the news that Florida's votes have been counted and that they don't mean anything because the delegates haven't casted their votes yet, no less the democratic party's votes will not be held for holding their pre-election too early, one scratches their head. What? My vote doesn't count?Therein lies the complexity of our democratic elections. For an American, voting is a form of power and that source of pride is under a false pretense. Until serious campaign financing caps are reformed and electoral colleges are eliminated, we're still being distracted by voter outcomes, false ones. Little debacles like Ohio. Like Florida. Something obviously, the States has bungled. Twice...
posted by kc at 18:09
