As far as i know the closest thing to a running democracy is France where the turnout rate hits up to 80%, the unions are an active part of governance. The politicians are kept in check by the people (unlike the states where you just go to vote every 4 years and you are removed from the process afterwards) through protesting and demonstrating (which is illegal in the states atleast when it comes to the war).
In my humble opinion is that the next evolution of democracy (which is far from young) is for the people to be able to vote on the major decision and for that to be taken into account (war is an example) & for finding a solution for maintaining the rights of the minority which seem to be washed away from the process.

How the problem regarding the information is that the two things you are discussing are not something that can be learned sufficiently through observation or 3rd party accounts they are things that need to be experienced first hand because the preconception at this time and age are so instilled in us that we can’t really over come them with sheer willpower any more we need to obliterate them with wear & tear.

It i not to be forgotten that the U.S. is indeed not a democracy, believe it or not. The U.S. is a republic. Voting is only a method of electing leaders, it does not grant the official anymore powers beyond what it is delegated to them (depending on position) by the Constitution. The rights of the minority, be that race or social class or anything else, should not be infringed. That is, unfortunately, not the case today - politicians seem to have found convenient to simply “ignore” the Constitution. They pick and choose who they want to tax. They pick and choose what they think someone should not have. They pick and choose what they think people should not do. The first is a breach of equality, a justice quality. The second is a breach of property rights. And the last is a breach of freedom, most specifically freedom of choice and/or of speech. Hiding behind the “mandate of the people” concept is Tyranny of the Majority.

Legislation must be enacted to stop officials from believing they have a “free pass” to do what they wish once elected. That alone could have saved a lot of headaches, if not lives, for the past few years.

I’ll end with a few good quotes from Ben Franklin, and one from Thomas Jefferson;

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!”

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

-Benjamin Franklin

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

-Thomas Jefferson

Peach and Love to you all.
Traci

I am aware of that little problem, to tell you the truth i havent yet figured the mechanism to define that elite.

maybe we can work on it together?:)

You’d immediately have people complaining they’re not heard because they’re not elite, actually exactly as it happened in Europe before the advent of democracy, with the “elite” being roughly equal to nobility …

I agree with a lot of what you said, the media role, the misunderstanding of the masses to the other side on both side etc. all cool.

I wanna say though, that i too dont beleive in… well i dont know whats the word to define it, but i will explain:

the system of electing the governer (president, etc) by asking the general public to cast their votes, this particular PART of the process, i strognyl disagree with.

See, politicians are always dirty, arent they?:)
ok, lets say that its at least the general rule: they are willing to do just about anything to get in power, no?
thats human nature after all, few things compete with the man’s thurst for power and control, after all.

So politicans would lie, decieve, make false promises, spend billions on marketing themselves just like any other product that you would buy even if you dont need due to advertizing, they would twist facts, use the media, creat rumors, support bad guys and smear the reputation of good ones, just about anything to get them where they want, no?

Politicians are in a buisness where the benefits are huge, and hence they are willing to invest huge efforts and money to get to their goals, and hence there are always people willing to provide their survices to creat just the approperiate spin and propaganda with the help of media experts, image consultants, psychatrists, thinkers, consultants, just about every sort of professionals that are going to make sure that the everyday jo write the name of their employer when he goes to vote in the elections day, right?

the average jo now, who is my neighbor and yours, the supermarket guy, the taxi driver, millions of people, billions of people, the masses, are victims of all these efforts, and they are the target of all these efforts, right?

I have great concerns, about the elegibility of these masses, that lack the needed political knowledge and eduaction, to be trusted in a matter that is as extremely important as choosing a leader to a nation.

they just cant. think of all the guys you meet everyday, not the smart ones that work with you, not the friends you hang with, those are small minority. think of abo m7ammed that lives in a village in karak and makes a living by raising chickens. think of abo 2a7med that never left irbid and never finished high school, think of billions of poor and uneducated people in the camps, in the slums, in il wi7dat, in jabal il marreekh, the masses! do you really trust their wisdom, effected also by all the efforst spent by the employees of each candidate, to choose YOUR leader?

I dont.

I think the way it should be, is that only the elite should be consulted in such matters and allowed to vote.

nice post.

Khalid*

ps: still za3lan minnak wa3adtni to continue the niqash last time o ma waffet