Forum Post: And you thought this was democracy ?

DECISIONS ABOUT AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TAKEN WITHOUT AMERICAN PEOPLE

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Despite the fact most Americans believe present day politics border on the ridiculous, not to mention moral and ethical standards, nobody really knows what to do about it.

If we ever expect to at least partially restore the public trust in the government and the political parties we need to begin from the bottom up. The manner in which our modern society is currently structured (and manipulated) is unfortunately too far gone, so we as individuals need to peacefully, perhaps slowly, but decisively do something meaningful about this situation. As many other issues, the sacred principle of democracy, The Majority Rules, had been turned into a myth.

The whispering, the protests, the endless e-mails, the marches, the occasional rational statements, and even some public events (frequently initially organized in good faith but later turned into sinister hidden agendas) only act as appeasements, as safety valves for public anger at being so shamelessly exploited. They turn out not only as a waste of time (and money), but as a hypocritical feeling of “something” being done against the constraining policies. Sadly enough, same applies to comments on the Internet. Nothing is achieved. All we really do is talk.

By now it must be obvious to that great majority of American people that whatever it is we have done so far did not and does not work. We need to return to the point where it all started falling apart. Violence of any kind is decidedly not a solution. It would only complicate the already tense situation. We see tragic examples of failure in that sense on our TV sets every day from other parts of the world.

* Today’s democracy is a far cry from the initially formulated historical concept. We all do not want to hear it, much less admit it, but we instinctively know it is so. We have conveniently forgotten the basic principle. A genuine vote for the best candidate for the benefit of the country has been replaced long ago. Instead, we are now being graciously told we have a choice between two self-appointed and self-proclaimed candidates who talk about imaginary and unrealistic promises to shamelessly ignore them later. And the American people know this by now, yet they obediently comply.

There are several extremely clear and effective steps of how to bring up to the surface the obvious disagreement of the vast majority of the population and regain rational control of the country.

The first one is a compulsory vote.

In order to recapture a degree of national respect and avert the ever-growing plague of escalating universal depression, we need to stop talking and start doing. Why not begin with overhauling “the”, one, single, principal concept of democracy. Government by the people for the people, attained by the involvement of each and every citizen.

I am not sure why, but this may be hard to swallow for some. Unless we want our children and grandchildren to become remotely operated disposable units of profit-oriented global powers, and we are well on the way, a modern version of past domination schemes in world’s history, we have to make a stand and do something constructive.

The following numbers are a rough example of what I mean. They do not pretend to reflect precise records. What matters is they reflect the overall concept, the Common Sense view of what must be accomplished before anything at all may be really changed on the national political scene.

Today’s population of the United States of America is approximately 313 million souls. Out of those, discounting illegal immigrants and legal residents, about 286 million are American Citizens. Out of those, about 232 million are the voting age population.

In past national elections, voting records indicate approximately 132 million have actually voted. Let’s skip exact figures again and state that the winning party won its “democratic” right to govern with an alleged majority, which instead of at least the 51% of the population in reality turned out to be about 29% of the U.S. voting population.

By this process, only about 66 million people have therefore amazingly decided the political, social, and economical future of the 313,000,000 inhabitants. That ultimately translates at approximately 21% - TWENTY ONE PERCENT ! - of the entire population of the USA chose the political profile for nearly EIGHTY PERCENT of the country to follow.

And nobody says a word.

Can anybody, even the so-eloquent politicians, seriously maintain that decisions of TWENTY ONE PERCENT of the population are a valid interpretation of the essence of a governing majority ?

To achieve this astonishing recovery of the authentic democratic principle, I propose we amend our civic rights and obligations and institute a compulsory vote.

Simple as that. If this concept shocks you, think about it. My first question to you would be why? It is the simplest and strangely enough the peaceful solution for what ails us. We have many rules and regulations for our society to function in an orderly manner. We accept them as for what they are. Not limiting impositions, but reasonable operational rules. If you are a member of a club, a group, an organization, isn’t it not only logical but especially rational that YOU, under the basic DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES, give YOUR opinion about the actions or inactions of that organization ? Isn’t that the core of democratic government ? That we all have a voice ? It should be simultaneously a privilege and a civic obligation to participate in the decisions of your country’s future. Why should, or for that matter, would you abstain from this privilege ?

We drive on the right side of the road. Doesn’t that mean while you do have the liberty to drive on the left or in the middle, but since it would certainly lead to a guaranteed cause of endless accidents, that such simple and civilized “agreement” is reasonable ?

Our air traffic is controlled by trained people who instruct the aircraft crews which course and at what height should they fly to be safe. Doesn’t that mean while the aircraft pilot has the liberty to fly wherever s/he wants to, that it only is reasonable to come to a universal “agreement” to avoid a guaranteed cause of endless disasters ?

A mandatory vote achieves the true miracle. It converts the idealistic concept of democracy into effective reality. One hundred percent of American citizens should be the ones who decide the future of the United States of America. Certainly not a bunch of politicians juggling at ridiculous expense the manipulation of the opinion of TWENTY ONE PERCENT of the people.

I anticipate passionate arguments of individuals and groups of all kinds, something that never fails, especially from those whose schemes will crumble under such revelation. They will be the first loudly demanding the alleged liberty not to vote. Yet the simple existence of a blank vote ballot will not only insure that particular freedom of expression of personal disagreement, but what is of paramount importance, it will finally and indisputably demonstrate the authentic extent of that shrouded national disagreement with the heading our political system is taking. The overall count will finally unveil the true majority’s opinion. It will consequently indicate the American people’s authentic will without any tampering.

Thus the compulsory vote, as many other rules and obligations we share as citizens, will not detract from individual freedoms, but simply be one of the judicious conditions of belonging to this nation. Of being an active and above all concerned U.S. citizen, not an apathetic dormant mummy. It will not necessarily solve the problems we are facing, but it will decidedly stir the perception of the people’s power.

I realize what I am proposing here is a major issue, a supreme inconvenience for the unscrupulous politicians, who will not accept it kindly. But it will do away with uncertainty and so many deceitful words. It will defuse the constantly growing animosity and dangerous tensions. Because we will know exactly where we stand. Perhaps, just perhaps one or several of the philanthropists who have publicly declared sincere interest in the future of our country, such as Warren Buffett or Bill Gates or, who knows, maybe even some honest politicians, or high government officials, and perhaps even a few of the honorable members of the Congress will recognize this strange yet simple solution as a viable proposition. They may realize and admit this is a sensible way of how to commence fixing the current inoperative status quo. Ultimately, such non-discriminatory interest will help us to plan and to execute an appropriate instrument that will cause this important transformation in amending the American way of interpreting democracy.

That is, if we really want to stop listening to the current political garbage, stop talking, and find the time and dedication to concretely begin solving the present political dilemma.

July 2012