On Pretending to be a Democracy

Blubs of Verbs, Life Lessons Comments Off on On Pretending to be a Democracy

“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their Constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it.” – Abraham Lincoln

Iran with its unrest here in the June 2009 is learning a lesson that oppressive regieme seem to never learn, what those drunk on power never seem to grasp. If you are going to pretend to give people the right to vote and chose their own way, you cannot also treat them like complete sheep and idiots.

People will accept their injustice, their oppression to a degree, but they will not accept a shell game. What do i mean?

No Choice.

Back in the Old Soviet union (and lots of dictatorships like Iraq) people were given the right to vote.  There was one candidate and he generally won with 99% of the vote (and most of the population), even when most people stayed home.  The election was a sham, everyone knew it, and that was the state of things, you went on with your life.

Choice

In  contrast, in Venezula they had a close election, In America 2000, and 2004 they had a close election.  People were upset and they voiced it… and their countries and govenment still stand. Why…  Many countries have had close elections, there is always talk of voter fraud and ballot fixing, but in actually democracies, the expectation matches that of what has been reported in the run up. Further more after one side loses, and there is obvious bitterness, it’s not that people don’t take to the streets and protest, its’ that the ruling powers acknowledge their protesting and basically ignores them, until they tire and go home.

General Conclusion

In a true democracy (right to vote, press freedom, right to assemble and speak), or let’s say a place where even if people don’t believe their guy lost,  They demonstrate, They bitch and then, They move on, why? because they trust the eventually digging.  Those who lost, and who think they should not have lost never stop seeking answers, questioning every machine, balot, they file every legal challenge and WE LET THEM!  because, that way we let them exaust themselves.  They are not following some fallacy either. If they found evidence they know it would be reported, the courts would listen, etc

The Problem with Pretending.

Those pretending to be a democracy always overreach.  Instead, not only do they stack the vote but they also stack the vote into the unbelievable range.  This is their crime or, real mistake.  Then after some initial disturbances the ruling class feel so shaky, so not in control, they then crack down on the people.  Often enough, this works –people like living after all.

The cause of the disturbance is the same- overreaching.  Whether or not the Voting in Iran was fixed two things have happened.  a) the expectation of a close election was a landslide (over reach) and then, telling the people that protesting the result would have grave consequences. (over reach).

The fix would have been simple. Let the people have the retally and then bring the counting in close with expectation, say 52/48 and still declare your guy the winner.   After all, those pretending usually have control of the media. It’s too late now anyway. The people are starting to figure out their are more of them, than the ruling class. This will only end in blood.

In the end, Pretending you are a democracy is bad, or just works until fear grips the ruling class. Just admit you’re not, and people accept it because they understand it, they understand those rules.  The rules are not going to change suddenly.   The Mob does not like change they can’t anticipate.

OceansOfThought @ June 22, 2009