Winston Churchill said in 1947 that “many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
If he were alive today, he might change his analysis.
Global surveys by the Pew Research Center in the past few years show the same trend worldwide. We the People want a government of participatory democracy. We see the advantages of how a “Fair Judiciary” “Free Press/Speech,” “Free Religion,” and that “Opposition parties can operate freely” can be best achieved under democratic rule.
However, the percentage of people who feel their “State is run for the benefit of everyone” is dismal. Only 30 percent in Italy, 48 percent in Germany, 46 percent in the US, and 44 percent in the UK agree.
In answer to the question that their “Political system needs major changes or needs to be completely reformed,” the results are scary. In Spain 86 percent said “yes”; as did 84 percent in South Korea, 73 percent in France, 66 percent in Japan, and 56 percent in Taiwan.
And “free and democratic” elections are part of the problem. For example, Germany’s new government, parliamentary government, is a collation of center-left Social Democrats that signed a coalition agreement with the Green Party and the Free Democrats. Compromise is great but none of these parties could reach a majority. So, it is a compromise of policies that a majority of the people do not want.
One local candidate for national office publicly writes, “CIVIL WAR IS CERTAIN—There is one thing certain if Bongbong Marcos is elected president: this country will be torn by civil war. Millions of us would rather die fighting this bastard upstart than have this country go back to the dark past. Democracy must protect itself from forces that seek to destroy it.”
Sounds like “Democracy” must protect itself from the plurality if not the majority of the voters. Another is concerned that the Philippines might experience a situation like in the US where people “stormed” the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. This analyst failed to mention that the protestors were supporters of the losing candidate, Donald Trump.
Pew Research also found that people feel more divided even from 2020 to 2021. “My country is more divided”: US/88 percent, Netherlands/83, Belgium/66, Germany/77, and Canada/61.
The people want two things for government. They want their views to be listened to and respected. That is the “participatory” part of the democratic process. Secondly, the vast majority want the outcomes of elections to be respected by the “losers.”
Again from Pew, a wide majority of Americans (69 percent) say it is “very important” for federal law enforcement agencies to find and prosecute the people who broke into the US Capitol. This clearly shows that regardless of the actual vote count of the election—51.3 percent for Biden and 46.9 percent for Trump— even those that supported the losing candidate expect the results to be peacefully accepted. That is what a democracy should be, not “civil war is certain”.
For several years there has been the two mantras of “Democracy Is Dying/Dead” and variations of “Strongman politics is a global crisis.”
If democracy is dying it may be the consequence of government, even democratically elected governments, not respecting the will of the people. “Strongman politics” may be the result. In general and as a group, people are pragmatic. Rules and laws are obeyed if and when they make sense. If a seemingly “authoritarian/military” leader does a better job and that is what the people want, maybe that is what a participatory democracy really is.
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