Do we live in a Democracy?
Do we live in a democracy? Democracy is about making choices and we cannot make choices if we are being lied to. If what we are being told is a lie we can only vote for one lie versus another without any idea what we are really voting for.
If all we have is spin what chance do we stand of getting the government we want? If democracy is government by the people for the people then the government must listen to what the people want. That cannot happen if all we get is 'spin' because we cannot know what we want if we do not know the choices.
And then there the blanket shut-down that it is 'Not in the National interest' to disclose the truth. If this is a democracy and we want to preserve a democratic way of life nothing less that the full truth is in the national interest. The people must be fully informed about what is going on.
In the last eight years in particular we have rarely been told the truth by the American government, the Australian government or the British government. It has been a disastrous period for democracy. We have ended up in a contrived war and seen our society degenerate into torture and murder because we have not been told the truth.
I would like to see a full and open investigation into the Bush/Blair/Howard years. Not to blame or punish, but to see how truth managed to disappear from our form of government. Then I would like to see appropriate transparency instilled into government in such a way that the people are told the truth.
There is also the financial debacle that left the world poverty stricken. How did it happen? What was it we where not being told about the financial affairs of the country? What needs to change? One of the changes I see is a total reform of the stock market. How come that the truth of the economic position of the world where concealed for so long? How come the stock market was allowed to degenerate into a world wide non stop floating poker game, with the brokers and fund managers playing with our money?
Undoubtedly we have been lied to. But it is not as simple as that.
Democracy depends on the people. It is no good to say we have a democracy because our forefathers created one. It has to be discovered and acted on by every new generation. Get fat and lazy and what we get is the last eight years.
Democracy demands we demand the truth, not just expect to be told the truth. Democracy demands that we are told what the choices are. Democracy demands that we think for ourselves and make informed decisions, and be willing to say yes to what we want and no to what we don't want. Democracy demands that we demand democracy.
David Young.