Is The Modern World Democratic?
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Democracy is something in which I believe in and something which the Kalashnikov party will support to the last. After all communism is control of economy and society by the people, so surely the people must actually have control of the society and its economy. Democracy is required for this. But what is democracy? Even without an organised governmental body elected to govern, democracy can still be maintained by direct democracy in which the people themselves make decisions and govern themselves collectively.
As I have evaluated the nature of democracy and of government, and contemplated the actual definitions of both, as separate entities and as combined issues, (which are much broader than the traditional preconception of the 2-party electoral system resulting in an organised body of beaurocrats.) It has become more and more apparent to me that modern government is not democratic.
For a government of any kind to be democratic certain criteria must be met:
Democracy by elected representatives has many flaws. The most obvious and consequently the most widely noticed problem is the reliance on politician but that will be covered later, as the issue covered in this section is the problems caused by the beaurocratic element, this will be dealt with on a point by point basis.
The Law of the Bearocrats
In our system of democracy we have politicians, so that we don’t have to make any important decisions or do anything more strenuous than doodle a cross on a piece of paper and put it in a box, an activity that most people still find too politically challenging and, as America recently famously proved, doesn’t have much effect (Unless you happen to play golf with the supreme court judges of a weekend). Therefore as all laws by which our society lives are governed are created and enforced by the elected representatives, this allows politicians to effectively decree how everybody must act and could at its worst give free license for politicians to tailor legal systems to their own benefit, change the foundations of the society to such an extent they make themselves ultimately unquestionable dictators (in the exact manner as Hitler who became Germany’s dictator by passing the enabling act of 1936 through the Reichstag), or create a police state, or at the very least make some of the “honourable gentleman” feel above the law, (Mr Archer. Want to sue me for libel? Go ahead make my day.) and practically all self righteous busy bodies who believe they know what's best for us.
While the worst case scenarios may seem far fetched they are more realistic than you may imagine (though by no means at the worst that could be) However regardless of the situation the mere fact that this kind of power is available to anyone is frightening and should make us all sit up and think, regardless of its degree of use. All it would take is one charismatic despot willing to take advantage of these resources to attain power (if Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Batista etc can do it who’s to say it can’t happen again? Course not cries George “welcome to my Daddies fourth term in office” Bush from the last bastion of democracy. Right.) Or for someone at the top to snap or become corrupted (ie more than the average politician. A horrifying thought in itself.).
The law is in fact a law unto itself (this may seem obvious but is still wrong) The police have effectively an ability to do whatever they want and infringe your civil liberties seemingly on a whim. Sounds like paranoid crazy man rant but is more accurate than you might think. (See: I fought the law and the law won) Many of our laws are unpopular but necessary, as our governments are dedicated to the pointless edifice of the global economy and the international advancement of capitalism we all have to pay taxes to stop the whole of society crumbling about us, we can’t steal or hurt people for no reason. These laws protect society (or are at least supposed to) but there are others that are pointless ridiculous, farcical leftovers of the white middle class rule of the late 1800’s and the early half of the 20th century. A rule that still continues in much the same manner as it did back then. There are laws all over the globe that have been in action since the dark ages which have never been officially repeeled pertaining to what streets you can drive your carriage down, and how often you have to hurl effluent from 3rd storie windows on to unsuspecting members of the straw chewing peasant fraternity. These laws are pointless and although they are ignored by our legal system they should be removed.
This is however of little importance compared to the many laws which infringe our civil liberties or are just pointless (although modern, in use and not related to the straw chewing peasant fraternity) the laws which seem to limit the power of the police to do anything they want, but are so full of loop holes that the only reason for them to exist is to keep the people from realising the extent of their power (for more on this and other unrelated topics see I Fought The Law And The Law Won), the laws which allow us to become parents and poison the unborn children with cigarrete smoke while giving ourselves lung cancer at 16, but not drink a pint in a pub until 18, the international laws which protect the interests of the white middle class Americanised capitalist west and make us all feel like ”the good guys” with laws which while supposedly protecting the third world (which we are responsible for creating) just get ignored as soon as one of us wants to kick the hell out of some poor defenceless bunch of muslim Chechennes/Vietnamese commies/black South Africans, and leave genocidal machetti wielding maniacs to get on with their butchering of women and children because “it’s none of our business”.
There are countless unjust laws within our society but we can’t change them because they are the law. The only way for them to be changed is to wait for the following process to be completed.
The only way to speed up this process is to protest. This just gets you hospitalised by some club wielding thug who gets away with it because all the nice judges like a man in uniform. The truth is the public can vote for the politicians who claim to intend changing the way we live but they can change their tune as soon as they are in power, or not have any real noticeable effect despite their best attempts anyway. As the conservative party proved after the last election if your crusade of righteousness on which you will never relinquish your morals doesn’t gain you additional political power, it gets replaced with something that will. The public therefore have almost no control over the laws of their society. In this respect our world is not democratic.
The Western system of democracy allows the society to vote for the politicians they want (or at least hate to a lesser degree than all the others) but how free are you to choose really? Our democracy is often refered to as a 2 party system. Now slap me with a moistened halibut and call me Geoffrey if I’m wrong but 2 parties is not much of a choice (especially considering the 2 parties in Britain) and besides, there are many other parties. How can a system where you can vote for any party you want but are wasting your time as only 2 of them stand a ferret in a pressure cookers chance of attaining any power. So in affect we get a ½ chance or nothing. Even the liberal democrats, the third largest party in the country really have no power to speak of. With the new labour party now about as socialist as
Also with the government having the power to define the criteria you must fulfill to be a member of the electorate this effectively gives them a mandate to deny the vote to anyone who will not vote for them. Usually these criteria are only limiations on minmum age of voters and nationality of the voter limited to only being able to vote in your own state. However limitations on the members of the electorate can be changed to exclude women, non home-owners, certain religions, skin colours, people not considered important enough to vote, or anyone. All these examples have at some point been excluded from the electorate. Most of these examples will have been excluded in your own country, and until more recently than you might think.
The fact is that the voting system is corrupted, most people don’t vote, those that do only vote for the parties they vote for because they always have and always will regardless of what they stand for, or because they are drawn in by their shiny multimedia campaigns and have never heard of the other parties. With the political system in this state voting is rendered meaningless as it is no longer representative of it’s purpose; the people having control of their government and society. In this way, most importantly, our society is undemocratic.
These points encompass the points listed above in The Nature Of Democracy and many others which are no less important. You may still disagree with the opinions and conclusions in this article but then all of the actual information from which these conclusions are drawn is pure fact. As always Myself and the Kalashnikov party welcome constructive criticism and any intelligently written arguments against this article as well as agreements with it.
Big Bad Bolshevik Bob.
The Kalashnikov Party.I would like to thank: Covert Bob, my fellow conspirator/revolutionary psychopath, Vicky, for adding some sense of balance and providing me with the opposite end of the argument, a certain individual (who will remain nameless) for unwittingly feeding me the repugnant views of the right wing scum of British nationalism so I can argue against and destroy them, Emma who provided me with a large helping of inspiration and made me realise I’m not the only one out there who gives a damn, every well meant attempt at Marxism, at least you tried, Che Guevara, Ghandi, Dr King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and all others who have fought and/or died for the freedom of others.
The Kalashnikov party would also like to thank fascists everywhere for not being bullet-proof.
The Nature Of Democracy
As I have evaluated the nature of democracy and of government, and contemplated the actual definitions of both, as separate entities and as combined issues, (which are much broader than the traditional preconception of the 2-party electoral system resulting in an organised body of beaurocrats.) It has become more and more apparent to me that modern government is not democratic.
For a government of any kind to be democratic certain criteria must be met:
- All laws and policies by which the governed society lives must be created and implemented by the people or their elected representatives.
- Authority to rule must come from the people as a whole (or a majority thereof) or from an electorate formed of those members of society who fulfill certain criteria required (in the case of an organised beaurocracy)
- The aforementioned electorate must actively exercise direct control over the decisions made by and activities of the government, ie by referendum, voting of officials in and out of office or by direct democracy.
Democracy By Beaurocracy
Democracy by elected representatives has many flaws. The most obvious and consequently the most widely noticed problem is the reliance on politician but that will be covered later, as the issue covered in this section is the problems caused by the beaurocratic element, this will be dealt with on a point by point basis.
The Law of the Bearocrats
In our system of democracy we have politicians, so that we don’t have to make any important decisions or do anything more strenuous than doodle a cross on a piece of paper and put it in a box, an activity that most people still find too politically challenging and, as America recently famously proved, doesn’t have much effect (Unless you happen to play golf with the supreme court judges of a weekend). Therefore as all laws by which our society lives are governed are created and enforced by the elected representatives, this allows politicians to effectively decree how everybody must act and could at its worst give free license for politicians to tailor legal systems to their own benefit, change the foundations of the society to such an extent they make themselves ultimately unquestionable dictators (in the exact manner as Hitler who became Germany’s dictator by passing the enabling act of 1936 through the Reichstag), or create a police state, or at the very least make some of the “honourable gentleman” feel above the law, (Mr Archer. Want to sue me for libel? Go ahead make my day.) and practically all self righteous busy bodies who believe they know what's best for us.
While the worst case scenarios may seem far fetched they are more realistic than you may imagine (though by no means at the worst that could be) However regardless of the situation the mere fact that this kind of power is available to anyone is frightening and should make us all sit up and think, regardless of its degree of use. All it would take is one charismatic despot willing to take advantage of these resources to attain power (if Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Batista etc can do it who’s to say it can’t happen again? Course not cries George “welcome to my Daddies fourth term in office” Bush from the last bastion of democracy. Right.) Or for someone at the top to snap or become corrupted (ie more than the average politician. A horrifying thought in itself.).
The law is in fact a law unto itself (this may seem obvious but is still wrong) The police have effectively an ability to do whatever they want and infringe your civil liberties seemingly on a whim. Sounds like paranoid crazy man rant but is more accurate than you might think. (See: I fought the law and the law won) Many of our laws are unpopular but necessary, as our governments are dedicated to the pointless edifice of the global economy and the international advancement of capitalism we all have to pay taxes to stop the whole of society crumbling about us, we can’t steal or hurt people for no reason. These laws protect society (or are at least supposed to) but there are others that are pointless ridiculous, farcical leftovers of the white middle class rule of the late 1800’s and the early half of the 20th century. A rule that still continues in much the same manner as it did back then. There are laws all over the globe that have been in action since the dark ages which have never been officially repeeled pertaining to what streets you can drive your carriage down, and how often you have to hurl effluent from 3rd storie windows on to unsuspecting members of the straw chewing peasant fraternity. These laws are pointless and although they are ignored by our legal system they should be removed.
This is however of little importance compared to the many laws which infringe our civil liberties or are just pointless (although modern, in use and not related to the straw chewing peasant fraternity) the laws which seem to limit the power of the police to do anything they want, but are so full of loop holes that the only reason for them to exist is to keep the people from realising the extent of their power (for more on this and other unrelated topics see I Fought The Law And The Law Won), the laws which allow us to become parents and poison the unborn children with cigarrete smoke while giving ourselves lung cancer at 16, but not drink a pint in a pub until 18, the international laws which protect the interests of the white middle class Americanised capitalist west and make us all feel like ”the good guys” with laws which while supposedly protecting the third world (which we are responsible for creating) just get ignored as soon as one of us wants to kick the hell out of some poor defenceless bunch of muslim Chechennes/Vietnamese commies/black South Africans, and leave genocidal machetti wielding maniacs to get on with their butchering of women and children because “it’s none of our business”.
There are countless unjust laws within our society but we can’t change them because they are the law. The only way for them to be changed is to wait for the following process to be completed.
- Wait for the message to get to the politicians.
- Wait for the politicians to start caring.
- For the same said politician to draft a bill to change the law.
- For this bill to get proposed in the house of commons.
- For this bill to get the chance to be voted on.
- For the failed bill to be re-drafted and brought again to the attention of the commons.
- For another vote on the aforementioned re-draft of the bill.
- For the failed bill to rally the support of the people of the country and to be spear headed by a powerful politician (he won’t understand it but it’ll gain him a chance to boost his career and retire early).
- For this politician to resign after the press find out about his trio of gay lovers in Essex and his wifes fondness for crocheted thongs.
- For the politicians mate to take up the campaign.
- For this politician to get ostriscised for smoking a joint in college, and then fired for coughing in an irritating fashion in the back benches during an important (at least to somebody) speech.
- For someone else to take up the campaign and change it beyond recognition.
- For this bill to be passed through the house of commons.
- For the bill to then be rejected by the lords.
- For the commons to threaten to disband the house of lords and take their titles away.
- For the Lord’s to have a sudden change of heart.
- For the queen to be convinced that it won’t actually effect her or let Phillip out in public ungaged on a more regular basis.
- Of course after all this nobody can even remember or care what the whole damn thing was about in the first place.
The only way to speed up this process is to protest. This just gets you hospitalised by some club wielding thug who gets away with it because all the nice judges like a man in uniform. The truth is the public can vote for the politicians who claim to intend changing the way we live but they can change their tune as soon as they are in power, or not have any real noticeable effect despite their best attempts anyway. As the conservative party proved after the last election if your crusade of righteousness on which you will never relinquish your morals doesn’t gain you additional political power, it gets replaced with something that will. The public therefore have almost no control over the laws of their society. In this respect our world is not democratic.
The 2 Party Dictatorship
The Western system of democracy allows the society to vote for the politicians they want (or at least hate to a lesser degree than all the others) but how free are you to choose really? Our democracy is often refered to as a 2 party system. Now slap me with a moistened halibut and call me Geoffrey if I’m wrong but 2 parties is not much of a choice (especially considering the 2 parties in Britain) and besides, there are many other parties. How can a system where you can vote for any party you want but are wasting your time as only 2 of them stand a ferret in a pressure cookers chance of attaining any power. So in affect we get a ½ chance or nothing. Even the liberal democrats, the third largest party in the country really have no power to speak of. With the new labour party now about as socialist as
- Mussolini’s sock draw
Also with the government having the power to define the criteria you must fulfill to be a member of the electorate this effectively gives them a mandate to deny the vote to anyone who will not vote for them. Usually these criteria are only limiations on minmum age of voters and nationality of the voter limited to only being able to vote in your own state. However limitations on the members of the electorate can be changed to exclude women, non home-owners, certain religions, skin colours, people not considered important enough to vote, or anyone. All these examples have at some point been excluded from the electorate. Most of these examples will have been excluded in your own country, and until more recently than you might think.
The fact is that the voting system is corrupted, most people don’t vote, those that do only vote for the parties they vote for because they always have and always will regardless of what they stand for, or because they are drawn in by their shiny multimedia campaigns and have never heard of the other parties. With the political system in this state voting is rendered meaningless as it is no longer representative of it’s purpose; the people having control of their government and society. In this way, most importantly, our society is undemocratic.
These points encompass the points listed above in The Nature Of Democracy and many others which are no less important. You may still disagree with the opinions and conclusions in this article but then all of the actual information from which these conclusions are drawn is pure fact. As always Myself and the Kalashnikov party welcome constructive criticism and any intelligently written arguments against this article as well as agreements with it.
Big Bad Bolshevik Bob.
The Kalashnikov Party.I would like to thank: Covert Bob, my fellow conspirator/revolutionary psychopath, Vicky, for adding some sense of balance and providing me with the opposite end of the argument, a certain individual (who will remain nameless) for unwittingly feeding me the repugnant views of the right wing scum of British nationalism so I can argue against and destroy them, Emma who provided me with a large helping of inspiration and made me realise I’m not the only one out there who gives a damn, every well meant attempt at Marxism, at least you tried, Che Guevara, Ghandi, Dr King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and all others who have fought and/or died for the freedom of others.
The Kalashnikov party would also like to thank fascists everywhere for not being bullet-proof.
