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Monday, February 06, 2012

Activism is democracy's failure.

Government is plagued with many problems - so many that delays abound and governments take far too long to solve the problems with good solutions. Decisions are uniformly unsatisfactory, for the simple reason that the people, whose cooperation and acceptance is vital for difficult decisions, are excluded from participation and the involvement necessary to be part of the background discussion which would unite the people with and behind government.

It is assumed that 'activism' is both legitimate, necessary and important - a necessity to get governments to attend to the peoples' problems. Genuine participatory democracy

Under the existing circumstances one could not be surprised but, isn't that a terrible indictment on the state of democratic government and the disconnect between a caring people and their government. So we have to rely on loud noise in the streets for harassed government to be pushed to act.

It is the isolation of the people from government by the party system - and their dis-empowerment, that produces a defeatist despair in the face of so many problems which cannot be truly solved without the widespread concurrence of the community. Retired Judge Gebhardt once said that democracy is a moralising force in the community. But it is plain that aspect of democracy is working feebly and incompetently at best, when we consider the crime among youth, the irresponsible, and often fatal, manner in which cars are seen (or just heard in the wee small hours) hurtling through our streets.

Moreover, law abiding citizens are now less inclined to be involved in incidents for safety sake. Gebhardt's viewpoint is underlined by the comment of Al Smith, Governor of New York in 1923: 'The solution to problems of democracy is (simply) more democracy!'

The point is plain. Our democracy's intimate connection between people and government has never materialised to bring the community unity that can extend the moralising process community wide. Gangs and murderers should be terrified, not law abiding citizens. The Secret Ballot must be adopted in our parliaments to settle all debates - ASAP It is essential to a real democracy, to give a live connection with the people constantly by means of a much more genuine representation be 150 independents!

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