Without direct democracy, citizens do not count for much

If we live in an authoritarian or totalitarian regime, lay or religious, of any tendency, we are like serfs during the European Middle Ages, or less; we obviously should do something about that.

But this blog is not aimed at that, my goal is to contribute to bringing direct democracy to representative democracies. Those are societies where the people enjoy important basic human rights; freedom of expression, freedom for political ideas, and also the freedom and power to choose what person or political party will run the country.

For me, representative democracy is not enough, it is not fair, just or humane enough but you have to decide if direct democracy is a better system because it gives people one fundamental additional human right that is absent in representative democracies. I am referring to the right of people to decide all important issues and take away from politicians that power.

This is why representative democracy is not enough for me:

In a representative democracy, we the people, do not have the right and the power to make decisions on laws, policies, treaties, the constitution, taxes, war, education, the health system, etc. We only have the right to choose those who will have those powers, it is not enough.

We pay for everything; for all government expenses and for the salaries of all politicians. It makes no sense that we pay and they decide.

Democracy is supposed to be government by the people, directly by the people. That is what the Ancient Greeks developed. They developed direct democracy. They called it only “democracy” because they knew there is only one democracy, direct democracy.

Representative democracy is a trick some of the leaders of the French Revolution played on the people. We know that because already, during the Revolution, some members of the Assembly pointed out that if there is representation there is no democracy, because the people do not make the decisions. Democracy means “government BY the people”, it does not mean government of the representatives of the people.

Why it took for humans, even in Europe, even to “modern2 Greece, where Ancient Greece was embedded, 2000 years to bring the idea of democracy back? Ask the Christians; they are the ones who preferred rule by Popes and Divine Kings to rule themselves. I suppose the magic promises of the Church for the after life distracted them from the “here and now” life. But it is obviuus the people preferred those systems to democracy. Perhaps the Ancient Greeks were much brighter.

But that is not important now, what is important is that in a representative “democracy” we do not govern, when you govern, you make the laws, the policies, decide the taxes, what treaties to sign, what war to get involved in, what kind of health care system to have, what education should we have, what the constitution will say, etc.

If the people can not do that, then the people do not govern and the system is not a democracy.

If in a “democracy” the people elect the representatives and the representatives make all important decisions, such system is not a democracy.

Even if there is separation of powers at the top, between the elected executive, the elected legislative and the appointed judges, there is no democracy if the people only make the decision to elect. To the Greeks, representative “democracy” would not be democracy but, at best “elected aristocracy” or “elected oligarchy”.

If you pay but do not have the power to approve or reject laws, raise or lower taxes and the rest of it, you do not live in a democracy. If you pay you should be the master of the politicians, not the other way around.

If you do not decide the issues directly, you may claim, because you hear it all around you, that you live in a democracy, but you do not.

If you want to control the now, and the future, of your country, of your federation of states, etc., there is only one way, direct democracy.

The Swiss have direct democracy, not as good as the Ancient Greeks had, but close enough that allows the Swiss people to control their politicians and what happens in their country.

Please! Do not bring up the argument that the Greeks did not have a very good democracy because women and slaves did not vote; we are talking about 2700 years ago! Besides women could not vote anywhere until the late 19th century, and slavery lasted just as long. And the change happened, not because of the Church but because in the Renaissance, Europeans woke up and rediscovered Ancient Greece.

But remember, the adult citizens of Greece had far more power than you do right now, even more than the Swiss have.

You should compare the Ancient Greeks to the other societies of the World of that time; the Jews, the Egyptianr, the Indians, the Chinese, the other Europeans, etc., the Greeks were light-years ahead of all of them, and not only in politics.

No doubt that if Greek democragy had survived, slavery wwould have been abolished in a few decades and women would have had the vote much sooner.

But direct democracy, like representative “democracy”, does not just happen, the people have to push for them.

That is what the Greeks did and the Swiss too, more tha two millennia later. If you want to obtain the right to decide, you will have to push too.

Victor Lopez

You should compare the

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
CLICK: to switch to other languages/cambiar a español u otros
error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x