Democracy at Risk? Get Real

We are all overwhelmed by the accusations that today’s politicians make at their opponents who are supposedly trying to tear down democracy, that the survival of democracy itself is at stake.

Much of this battle stems from Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the US presidential election, the attack on Congress in January 2021, and the 47% of Republicans who see the events of 6th January as a “legitimate protest”.

Both sides of the debate have got this wrong, and it’s in their interests to keep it that way. The issue today is not about our democracy being at risk.

Democracy is not the same thing as elections. Elections are not the same thing as democracy. Fish and chips. One can have one without the other. We have become so accustomed to fusing the two ideas together that we’ve lost sight of the woods. We are lost and immersed in the trees.

What then is democracy? You’d think that we would all know this like the back of our hands but so few of us have been able to get beyond the firehose onslaught that democracy is elections, or voting or something about a legislative representative.

Can we all step back for a few moments?

Democracy is remarkably simple – in etymology and in spirt – it’s people power. Where the people are engaged and responsible for making the decisions of government, and especially the most important decisions, that there is democracy, that is where the people have power.

What are these decisions?

What causes or objectives need to be prioritised by government? Who, what and how much should be taxed? What are the government’s spending objectives? When should we declare war? What laws should we have? What laws do we need to change?

These questions have profound implications. Do we spend another billion dollars on a few fighter jets or eradicate homelessness? Do we put funding limits on political campaigns or allow another billion dollars to be spent in the next campaign? Does everyone have access to free healthcare?

It’s when the people are responsible for these sorts of decisions, that the people have power. So, what do you think, do we have a democracy?