On Democracy

“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”

-          Abraham Lincoln

What is democracy?

Democracy is defined as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The finest form of government in which every individual participates consciously and have the sovereign power to determine their destiny.

This is what the Oxford University defines democracy to be.

But I find H.L. Mencken’s (An American journalist regarded as one of the most influential writers of 20^th century) definition rather convincing. He said,” Democracy is a pathetic belief in the wisdom of individual ignorance.”

‘On Democracy’ is a book by Robert Dahl, a political scientist and educator, whose beliefs and concerns are presented through this book.

He begins his book by giving a brief introduction of the Ancient Greeks who are believed to have sowed the seeds of democracy. Having a small population in different states of the empire, it was easy for the Greeks to establish democracy with participation of all. Though its life was short. But the Roman Empire adapted a different form of government. They believed in expanding their territory which made participation of all citizens impossible. Thus representatives were elected by the people having supreme power such a governance was called Republic. But with time the ignorance and poverty of the people was taken advantage of by the ambitious imposters, who may be seen as representatives of the majority

But are the government of a minority wielding aristocratic powers and underfoot rights of its citizen.

The advantage of democracy soon seem to fade away with power of autocrats increasing, minimization of moral responsibility and less freedom to express. Long established democracy seems to be in crisis along with losing confidence in representatives-corruption.

Thomas Piketty, a French economist in his recent talk address the issue of India being an unequal country. He said,” For India to be an equal state the attitude of the rich has to change and the conscious and voice of the people has to be heard. If the people do nothing about it their children will inherent poverty, whereas rich children will inherent wealth, making him work less”

He feels he rich must be taxed more in order to bring social and cultural reforms. Let this tax, the money of the elite be used to build free schools only then hypocrisy will be removed.

Such reforms are taken up by Indian but impose additional tax towards campaign like cleanliness and education. But the reason one can’t see it, the change is as recently the auditors stated,’ A lot of this tax is unused.’ So the rich can just pay tax and get done with. On the other hand, the lower class should not be quite. They both should question their representatives.

Thomas Piketty’s talk highlights the concern of cultural diversity vs inadequate civic education which Robert Dahl believes.

Robert Dahl believes that the lengthy history of democracy led to confusion among people. He sees it more as a philosophy than a political system today. But if they still want to follow it I feel there must be some changes like, we have to ask the correct question. One’s country is a republic or democratic only if ‘we the people’ can keep it. It shall not be kept in the hands of a few. Only then will we be free from tyranny, only if we remember our duty as a citizen, whether it is to repair potholes and complain BMC or question the lies of the union, seek the truth demand for it.

As Joe Wilson in Fairgame says,” Democracy is not a free ride, this is a system in which we live and if we don’t do out duty this where our children will live.”