Democracy is the wild child that grows up in the mountains learning to be self sustenant, making the mistakes, thinking on his/her own, forging their own path in the rawness of nature.
Dictatorship is the sheltered child who grows up under the strict rule of his or her parent’s bossom, knowing only the rules of the household but not the true nature of reality.
Today the global world is questioning the fundamental values of individual sovereignty, the sacred rights of the individual, freedom of expressions and our rights to self determination as a people.
Some may argue that a democratically elected government will never operate as efficiently as an authoritative regime and that democracy is inherently flawed because it divides the nation. They highlight the effectiveness of authoritative crackdowns on the covid pandemic to stop the spread; or the necessity of re-education camps to handle terrorist populations and create a safer nation — or even encourage you to turn a blind eye to the disappearances of human rights activists because “who needs these annoying people anyway. They are always shaking the boat”.
We humans tend to commit the greatest atrocities to each other in the name of the greater good. In our rush we forget that every individual has a sacred right to self determination. We all have a mind of our own and we all own our own bodies. Even when every nation state has crumbled, this fact remains the same. You who are reading this, you have a mind of your own.
All humans also have a divine moral compass within each of ourselves and we must not forget that even if we are tasked to kill an enemy combatant out of military necessity, we still have the choice of showing respect and dignity to those we are about to extinguish by force of our arms.
I believe that success ‘economically’ and ‘geo-politically’ does not equal success when we try to measure the true strength of a nation. The goal is to build a beautiful nation that lasts forever. Not one that does well for a short time over a few decades and then dies.
The real strength of a nation, the strength of a business, the strength of any human organization is defined by the interactions between each individual within it. The sum of these bonds can be called its ‘culture’. It is of critical importance how we treat each other. Whether it is through fear, intimidation, silencing and violence or through a strict commitment to treating each other with respect, open dialogue and dignity. Our morality, our principle, our values. That is our strength. In this sense we each hold the future of the nation within our own hands.
This does not really apply for people that we agree with but particularly for people that we disagree with and dislike because like fire ants we naturally want to organize together and destroy them. We must remind ourselves when we get flustered in discussion even though we disagree with what the other person sincerely believes we should defend their right to say it and we have a duty to discourse and find our common values.
Democracy only works when we have the courage and space to voice our individual opinions and to debate respectfully with each other to find our common values. It only works if we have dialogue with people we disagree with and find truths that resonate within all of us. This should not be an “us” and “them” discussion, it should be a process where we make mistakes together and learn together. Tolerance is a virtue here and we must show respect first if we want people to give us respect.
Democracy is ultimately a continuous quest for truth in how we should organize ourselves as a common human people — there will never be a perfect static solution because our world is a dynamic and ever changing. Like science and it’s scientists, democracy and it’s citizens will always be playing catch up with the truth. In the same sense it does not matter if an experiment succeeds or fails what matters is what we learn and how quickly we can adapt and innovate.
Democracy is meant to be messy, we are meant to make mistakes and to learn from the failures of past generations. Just because our experiments do not yield the short term outcomes that we want, this does not mean we should turn our backs on the system itself. A common rule of law will be the fruit of our labour. Rules not forced on us as a people, but an evolving set of rules that we created together as society — Our laws reflecting the spirit of our people.
When men and women are in the habit to obey before they think of the reasoning behind the commands, then society will soon fall. This is because the mountains and seas and cold expanse of space do not owe us a living. Nothing stays the same in nature and everything is always changing. When paradigms shift and dynamic responses are required servile minds and weak nations are crushed. Idiots follow rules to their deaths.
Seasons change and I believe that if demands for individual sovereignty and self-determination are as many as blades of grass on the forest floor, these roots will take hold and the spring of democracy arises even from the most barren ground.
Humanity always finds a way.
