RE: Adsactly Education - 21st Century Democracy
Hi @adsactly Excellent post.
Compared to dictatorships, oligarchies, monarchies and aristocracies, in which the people have little or no say in who is elected and how the government is run, a democracy is often said to be the most challenging form of government, as input from those representing citizens determines the direction of the country. The basic definition of democracy in its purest form comes from the Greek language: The term means “rule by the people.” But democracy is defined in many ways — a fact that has caused much disagreement among those leading various democracies as to how best to run one.
The Greeks and Romans established the precursors to today’s modern democracy. The three main branches of Athenian democracy were the Assembly of the Demos, the Council of 500 and the People’s Court. Assembly and the Council were responsible for legislation, along with ad hoc boards of “lawmakers.”
In the 1790s to 1820s, Jeffersonian democracy was one of two philosophies of governing to dominate the U.S. political scene.
What is the “end” of political governance? Thomas Jefferson probably defined it best for the modern West: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and governments that prove to be destructive to such ends must be overthrown.
This Jeffersonian articulation of the end of governance was the culmination of cultural and religious developments unique to the West. Such developments placed the individual at the center of the universe as the basic and sovereign unit of human society. However, they did not occur in non-Western societies and their resulting political philosophy is, therefore, not universal.
Democracy has unquestionably lost its global momentum. According to Freedom House, there are only a handful more electoral democracies in the world today than there were at the start of this century. Dozens of newer democracies in the developing world are struggling to put down roots, and many older democracies including, of course, the United States are troubled. The theory that democratic transitions naturally move in a positive direction and that established democracies don’t tumble backward no longer holds water.
Have a wonderful Thursday
I wish you good health, happiness and prosperity
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I really hope that the theory that democracies that have all the pillars necessary in place are self correcting. As time goes on I find that hope to be dimming.
I think all the democracies in the world face a pressure that is much more than they ever have. I am still hopeful that they can be saved, but am certainly not certain that it will be so.
Hi @bigtom13 I think we need to recognize that the world is diverse, and there will be diverse models of governance around the world. Some of them will be more liberal and more democratic. Some of them will be more illiberal. Some of them may be authoritarian for a period of time. What caused the collapse of the Soviet Union was the idea that socialism was built on “scientific foundations” laid down by Marx and Engels and was ready to be used by everyone around this world. And when this didn’t happen, people started having doubts.
I think we’re seeing sustained and rather astonishing demand for democracy all over the world.
Democracy should be a verb, and not a noun. Democracy isn't this thing that gets created once and that’s it. All of us have to be actively engaged.
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I like that. Democracy should be a verb. An ever changing, ever evolving action.
Hi @bigtom13 That's right!!
A constitutional democracy is not a kingdom, aristocracy, plutocracy, kleptocracy, autocracy, theocracy, etc. Knowing what it is not is arguably part-way to knowing what it is.
Constitutional democracy is a transcendent Idea deduced over thousands of years of countless questions, not all of them thoughtful, and even more answers, not all of them truthful. Indeed, this Idea denotes or points to or "calls into being" a sort of learning organism that facilitates evolving awareness of achievable goals distinguishing gradations of plausible from implausible, thoughtful from thoughtless, likely from unlikely, just from unjust. Constitutional democracy learns from many sources, including its mistakes, including (perhaps) yours and mine.
The origins and evolution of the transcendent Idea of constitutional democracy as an embodiment of Ordered Liberty and the Rule of Law is a fascinating and instructive story in its own right.
I hope you have a happy day.
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