Democracy is the art of creating a government out of a peaceful and civil discourse. Since times immemorial people have been trying to sabotage democracy but its resilience is legendary. The graves of the opponents of democracy are littered all over. This is despite useful reminders from Alexis de Tocqueville who warned us that democracy could bring “soft despotism” and “tyranny of majority”. Aristotle also proved dead wrong when he said “In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich because there are more of them and the will of the majority is supreme”. It never happened. The richer and smarter people always had a sway. Sometimes the colossus of democracy seems to be a magnet for those who are harboring a death wish.
Get into your car or put on your TV at home. Rush Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Olbermann, Beck, Hannity and others are barking at you. They are spewing hatred day in and day out. They practice Goebbelean methods to target masses. They call themselves entertainers. They may well be from the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. I will take entertainment from Jon Stewart, Letterman, Bill Maher or Leno. The talk show hosts are undermining the democracy? They are neither civil nor liberal or conservative. They are for themselves and greedy. Look at their multimillion dollar pay checks. The movement to undermine democracy in US led by them is on. It is floundering and bound for the dustbin of history. Winston Churchill who said “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” seems to be the cheerleader of this clan.
The Gore–Bush legal skirmish a decade ago democratic was a big time challenge to democracy? When hordes of lawyers and millions of dollars come into play to decide an election, it is no longer democratic activity. Most elections in US now mean expenditure which is out of the reach of an ordinary American.
When civil liberties are trampled anywhere in the world, for whatever reasons, it is a poison pill for democracy. It does not matter if the cause is just or unjust. If human beings are scanned every time they call or hear a phone, see TV, go on Internet, buy something or cross a road, the democracy must be in trouble. Franklin Roosevelt’s mantra about civil liberties and the role of government is true. In his words “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over its government."
When we go to war to justify the last war we must be under the thumb of those who hate democracy. Not satisfied with thousands of years of war and millions dead, the Middle East is still at each other’s throat. After millions killed in 1947, Pakistan and India continue their death match. US bombed Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq to Stone Age and has been serially in war since world war. War is anti democracy. War never produces a democracy.
Democracy and economics may not be compatible. It needs mass participation in every aspect of life. When this happens, the vultures of society start hovering overhead and swoop on unsuspecting masses. At the time when people wanted to explore and venture out of their homes, slavery struck us. When industrialization appeared, Hitler, Japanese and British ravaged the world. And now in the age of mass communication, TV and computers, the bankers and insurers stuffed their pockets and left people high and dry.
This is a depressing picture. Still the spirit of democracy is alive and kicking. The democracy and free enterprise are embedded in human spirit which can be subdued at times but never killed.
The convergence of various cultures in United States of America is the nature’s way of providing an unbeatable bulwark against the tyrants, killers, greedy, liberals, conservatives, talk show hosts and terrorists all over the world.
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