Forum Post: Democracy? Part 1

Democracy ? I have posted this post in two parts due to size restrictions. Could you please read both parts before leaving any comments, thank you.

A question that each and every one of us should be asking ourselves is “what has happened to democracy”. When the majority of people in supposedly democratic western societies are made to suffer to preserve a small minority then obviously a democracy isn't present. Now I know I may be sounding to idealistic, and there are a lot of other factors at play here, such as greed on an individual level and lack of democratic participation in certain western countries, there would appear to be some very important observations emerging.

Democracy works as it should most effectively in a small community. It is hard for democratic principles to work effectively in very large communities due to the obstacles of vast distances and the collection of opinion (insights) from the sheer weight of numbers in our modern nations. In order for democratic governments to remain progressively effective in the face of these obstacles, it has proven necessary to use “parties” or groups of people to supposedly represent the individual. The problem with this is that these groups of people are small and easily corrupted if all of these individuals characters aren't of a sufficiently high standard of integrity. Thus a tendency emerges for them to steer their nation toward the whims of the rich and influential few.

We have finally reached a position where these circumstances can be remedied on a technical level, with the emergence of the internet and social networking media. These tools will allow democracy to work as it truly should on a massive scale, and potentially change what has often been an historically cumbersome if desirous ideology into a modern day juggernaut. One thing has to be stated though, this emerging democratic dynamic will appear on a global scale and amongst the middle classes of every nation of the world, for these are the people who can most easily participate and also have the time and inclination to do so. The global middle class will become the champions of this newly emerging democratic opportunity. They will all be searching for the same answers and making similar demands regardless as to where they call home. National interests will cease to have as much meaning to them as the rights of an individual and a broader vision for humanity begins to emerge.

As you are all aware, you and your movement are an example of this already taking place, however it is vital that all vestiges of nationalism, patriotism, racism, and religious intolerance are put aside, because if they aren't then your movement will just serve to start this entire cycle over again from scratch. Our future is to become a global community based on inclusiveness and acceptance, not a global community based on a totalitarian police state ran by an exclusive minority. For this is the very real threat if we can't all resolve our differences and unite, so as to hault this damaging cycle of rising and falling civilisations that dot our very long history. We have again arrived at a pivotal point in time, where we can can make these changes if we would just take the plunge and accept the fact that our actions/inactions aren't just responsible for circumstances that occur in our immediate surrounds, they also reach far and wide to every point of the globe and its environment.