the getting of democracy.

the ordinary member of western society, if dissatisfied with the activities of government, should have one goal: the enfranchisement of the people to the level of citizen of a democracy. [unless swiss, for they already have done so.]

i use 'should' with regret, for the vast majority of people have no understanding of politics. even self-styled 'activists' imagine it is enough to 'protest,' or merely complain.


there is no substitute for democracy, because government for the people must be by the people. there is no class of saints who can be trusted to put the interests of the majority ahead of their own. worse, there is no way for a management clique to even know what is best for the majority in the absence of referendum.

arguments are put against democracy, the most common are:

"the tyranny of the majority."

this is nearly devoid of content, it essentially is a scare: the faceless majority would keep you from freedom. since the alternative is the tyranny of the minority, usually a very small minority, this is no argument at all. i believe it is just the rich shoring up their wealth from the high-taxing [would-be] socialists.

"it's too hard" in large societies.

modern communication has eviscerated this argument. rule of the people can not be micromanagement, of course. but the electorate can choose between large scale programs of action. as long as the public business is done in public, interested parties will follow and alarm if deviations occur.

"the voters are dumb."

always put more politely, of course, but simply wrong. the electorate is right much more often than their masters, as a matter of historical record. not always right, but much more often. but let's look at the record of the baboon troop society: the alpha males, the henchmen, the lackeys, and the losers: war, economic convulsions, environmental catastrophe. any change to democracy is sure to do better, for the current standard is lurching toward collapse.


and yet, variations on the baboon society everywhere characterize human society, with the exception of switzerland. is democracy so hard? not really. if born into a democratic society, humans can preserve it, and use it. the swiss do, several american states do, and the e. u. is evolving through the use of referendum within the member states. democracy is perfectly possible if the threshold barrier of the alpha male heritage is surpassed.

the central question facing western society is how to get past the barrier of entrenched power exercised by the inheritors of warlords. this next step in social evolution is vital, if humanity is going to survive the physical challenge of our planet being over-run by homo sapiens.