Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. – Plato
The word democracy originated in the Greek language in Athens around the year 508 BC and literally translates from the Greek word ‘Demokratia’, into English as ‘rule of the people’. It was designed as a system of political structure intended to level certain aspects of previous hierarchical states which had prevented citizens from participating in the running of the nation. Obviously the system created by the Greeks in Athens was flawed as it excluded slaves and women, placing the power only into the hands of the male citizens. The premise, however, was revolutionary, and laid the foundation for modern politics. Recent events across the globe have shown that the tumultuous world of democracy is once again plummeting into despair, transitioning from the rule of the people to the ‘Chrimata Kratia’. The rule of money.
At home in the United Kingdom this transition is not as drastic as in other parts of the world: our system is not as obtusely corrupt as in other nations and our politicians do a much better job of talking away the issues of government arms contracts with other countries. However when you stop to look at the 2015 election which happened in May and at the results of said election, it is clear to see that our system is failing us. In short, the results of the general election lead to the imposition of an all out Conservative Party government in the House of Commons, more able to implement their right-wing plans of economic austerity now that they are no longer restrained by the shackles of the Liberal Democrats. The public outrage at recent Tory plans to cut the welfare bill and raise the threshold for inheritance tax have been met with the naive tagline of “you elected them, now they have a mandate to initiate their plans”
But do they? When you stop to look at the statistics from the election, you not only notice a destructive issue in our electoral system but also recognise that the Conservatives were far from an actual majority. With only 36% of the vote our first past the post electoral system allows the Conservative Party to rule the country, however it doesn’t take someone with the mathematical prowess of George Osborne (or lack thereof) to recognise that 64% of the population voted something other than conservative austerity. The reality that the majority are not fairly represented in government is not only a travesty but a symptom of a decaying democratic state. Look closer at the figures and you start to see the extent of the illness: Only 1 UKIP MP was elected with 12.6% of the overall vote – they should be the third largest party – and then we have the SNP, who after only receiving 4.7% of the vote share, have 56 MPs in the house of commons and are second only to Labour in respects of opposition party size.
The people of the UK are not represented by the elect in Westminster and that is how our democratic state has failed. There are cries that we have no alternatives, no meaningful suggestions to propose, I decry those cries with a simple call for electoral reform; a proportional representation system based on the D’Hondt method, similar to how MEP’s are elected, but seemingly not good enough for our main electoral system. I wonder why?
Now from my home to the home of democracy: Greece. Greece has a rich history of philosophers from Thales to Plato, of Medical developments, of plate smashing. But its greatest accolade by far is that it can proudly state it is the birthplace of democracy. As previously mentioned the word ‘Demokratia’ first appeared in writings from Athens in 508BC as the republic developed a system of citizen representation. Fast-forward 2523 years and the story is very different: women can vote, foreigners who are citizens can now vote and so it would seem democracy has triumphed. Look again.
In the election of January 2015 Greece saw the anti-austerity, anti-establishment, left-wing coalition party Syriza elected, and Alexis Tsipras become Prime Minister upon a tidal-wave of public support. The party had a track record of opposing cuts to the public sector and appeared to be unwilling to conform to EU demands in order to receive economic bailouts. It should be noted that their track record, and their appearance were ambiguous throughout the short election run; this has worked both in and against their favour. With the Greek debt amounting to over 100% of national productivity the European Union and the International Monetary Fund were calling for greater levels of austerity and set targets for the Greeks to meet in order to receive financial bailout. Syriza put the decision to the public: more austerity and more bailouts or a new direction? The vote was overwhelming with over 60% voting no to more austerity. In turn Tsipras decided to ignore the will of his people, instead deciding to take the 84billion euro bailout offered by the EU and the IMF; in return he has decided to subject the nation to more fiscal austerity, increasing the retirement age, slashing state pension and purging social welfare.
Many have claimed that the Prime Minister had his hands tied firmly behind his back by the EU, with Yanis Varoufakis former Finance Minister claiming he had to choose “between being executed and capitulating, and he decided that capitulation was the optimal strategy”. This huge step away from the party’s origins has drawn criticism not only from the public but from within the party itself; Tsipras recently ousted several of the left-wing members who opposed the bailouts from within his administration, including the vocal Marxist Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafanzis. By Wednesday 22nd of July 2015 the Greek Parliament must pass additional reform to meet EU requirements, to conform to IMF demands, and to ignore the will of its people. The words of dictator Benito Mussolini have never seemed more true, “Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy”.
Yet it is not only Europe which appears to be failing at maintaining the facade of democracy. American democracy, one of the younglings of the modern age at only 239 years old – has traversed many of the obstacles faced by many much older states. The federal system was designed to promote democratic standards with every state having a say in the running of the country through elected representatives. The idea being that such vast political devolution would prevent autocratic centralisation as seen under the red coats.
The problem in America is that while President Obama and the Democrats hold majority in the Senate, the margin by which they hold majority is not as great as the margin by which the Republicans hold majority in the House of Representatives. This, obviously, leads to frequent political stalemates, with political form often hard to pass. This is nowhere more clearly seen than in the government shutdown of 2013 where the Congress as a whole refused to pass legislation to fund government operations. This all occurred as a result of the Republican attempt to prevent the continued funding of Obamacare, a programme aimed at benefitting the most vulnerable.
The Republican majority in Congress has prevented reform across the board, but more recently has prevented the gun control reforms pushed for by President Obama. In a poll by the John Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2013 it was clear that Americans favoured reform; 89% said yes to gun purchase background checks and over 80% said yes to prohibiting the sale of firearms to high risk citizens. While democracy suggests that reform should be passed, the Republican majority Congress rely on the 2nd amendment of the Constitution that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. Seemingly they also ignore that the constitution specifies this is only necessary to continue a well regulated militia which I would hope the Republicans don’t also want.
The will of the American people is unheard by the government. The murder of African-American citizens by the police forces, the refusal to reform gun laws and the massively uneven distribution of wealth are a result of the capitalist facets of the American dream. Unfortunately it is solely a dream for the wealthy and the corporations, for the majority their reality is slowly becoming a nightmare.
Democracy as it is theorised no longer truly exists. Across the globe we are seeing the will of the majority ignored by those in charge and this is absolutely clear in the case of Greece whereby over 60% of the population seem to have had their votes against austerity discounted. The government of the United Kingdom is not representative of the differing political opinions across the union, and the government of the United States is more occupied with profit, funding and dollars per barrel of oil than it is with acting on the desires of its people.
The last 2500 years has seen the perpetual rise and fall of democracy all over the globe; at this moment we are undeniably experiencing one of the many pitfalls on the journey of the democratic state. We have moved to a state where money is everything, and the voices of the poor go unheard. Yet change is possible. While unity is important and desire is invaluable, a realisation of the struggle ahead is key. As one American political thriller movie states “people should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people”.
Written by Jack Mills
Talk Socialist News 