Thursday, September 28, 2006
The veneer of democracy.
I have been wondering this past week about democracy and how real democracy is. Governments claim that we have democracy and that it is growing in the free world. I do have severe doubts about these claims made by our elected representatives. We all know that these representatives are not themselves representative of the electorate - disposable income is an easy marker to show the vast differences between us and them.
Here in the UK we get the chance to vote every few years for council and central government representatives. That is all we get, just one vote per person every few years for a representative, not policies or decisions. Behind this facade there are lobby groups who persuade government in various directions. We have consultations with business where employers can have more say in government than the employees who elect parliament. Still rumbling along is the cash for peerages scandal. Wealthy individuals can donate or loan money to political parties to influence government policy. That is undemocratic but money talks. Meanwhile the electorate is fooled into believing that government is being led by voters not a wealthy few.
Time and time again governments lecture us about democracy and how important votes are. It is not just here in the UK that politicians drone on about democracy but behind the scences other forces are very much at work. we know just how much the Jewish lobby forces American policy. In Thailand they have just had a military coup backed by a monarch - how much more undemocratic can you get? Many countries like Tunisia forbid free speech, so there is no opposition to government policy. However, what is the point of free speech when the general public has no influence in the day to day process of government?
The answer to these questions is that we do not have a valid democracy here in the UK or other countries throughout the world. Democracy is a sham and government is pointed by a wealthy few. It matters little which figureheads are at the top of government because the real decisions are taken behind closed doors by a wealthy few. The democracy that many claim we have is simply a veneer - the veneer of democracy.
I have been wondering this past week about democracy and how real democracy is. Governments claim that we have democracy and that it is growing in the free world. I do have severe doubts about these claims made by our elected representatives. We all know that these representatives are not themselves representative of the electorate - disposable income is an easy marker to show the vast differences between us and them.
Here in the UK we get the chance to vote every few years for council and central government representatives. That is all we get, just one vote per person every few years for a representative, not policies or decisions. Behind this facade there are lobby groups who persuade government in various directions. We have consultations with business where employers can have more say in government than the employees who elect parliament. Still rumbling along is the cash for peerages scandal. Wealthy individuals can donate or loan money to political parties to influence government policy. That is undemocratic but money talks. Meanwhile the electorate is fooled into believing that government is being led by voters not a wealthy few.
Time and time again governments lecture us about democracy and how important votes are. It is not just here in the UK that politicians drone on about democracy but behind the scences other forces are very much at work. we know just how much the Jewish lobby forces American policy. In Thailand they have just had a military coup backed by a monarch - how much more undemocratic can you get? Many countries like Tunisia forbid free speech, so there is no opposition to government policy. However, what is the point of free speech when the general public has no influence in the day to day process of government?
The answer to these questions is that we do not have a valid democracy here in the UK or other countries throughout the world. Democracy is a sham and government is pointed by a wealthy few. It matters little which figureheads are at the top of government because the real decisions are taken behind closed doors by a wealthy few. The democracy that many claim we have is simply a veneer - the veneer of democracy.
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