Demo-cracy: Your Role

When elections are over, rhetoric on democratic governance often neglect the power of the ‘demos’ and focus on the delivery power of elected leaders. The people are also made to believe that their powers end at the ballot box every four or five years. This phenomenon is mostly real in acclaimed democratic countries such as the United States and Scandinavian countries. My speculation is that the monotony of the comfort of successful democratic countries leads to apathy and inaction. People no longer see themselves as engaging in a revolutionary action especially when it has very little to do with the homeland. The patriotic spirit required for democratic action can fade away when political change seems to lead to very little difference in ideology or political doctrine.

Taking the Lincoln definition of democracy for instance, “the government of the people, by the people and for the people,” we can admit that true democracy is now practiced only in very remote areas of the world. In case you are still wondering where I am leading you, then ask yourself whether you deny your government’s activities. If your answer is yes, then you need to reclaim your democratic right to sanction the actions of your elected representatives. Some of you are already thinking about the impossibility of sanctioning a government’s action alone…yes you should, because that’s not the point. The collective action of a majority is the fundamental pillar of a democracy that must be implemented for sanctioning a government. After all, it was the same collective that guaranteed their mandate to rule.

If you have been following recent developments abroad, you must have come across the news on South Korean nonviolent action against the government. The protesters are angry that South Korea has accepted to resume imports of US beef, which were suspended in 2003 after an outbreak of mad cow disease in cattle there. They accuse the government of failing to safeguard their health, despite government assurances that the beef is safe. Some cabinet members have offered to resign amidst this organize manifestation of demo-cratic power.

This is not the first time we have witnessed the power of the demos. If you live in the United State or Indian, you already know that the Civil Rights Movement and the Ghandian Nonviolent Movement were demo-cratic endeavors; the bravery of Tiananmen Square in China, the crushing of the Berlin wall, popular overthrow of Ivory Coast’s Robert Guei, the very recent orange revolution in Ukraine, are all evidence of practical demo-cracies…our rights as citizens not only to elect our leaders, but to hold them accountable for the power invested in them, always.

This is not a call for people to take over their government at every blunder, but we must remember to always make our governments aware that they are accountable to US, the demos. When governments get away with lies, declare war without our consent, and condemn in public the lives they live in private, we must never relent to practice our demo-cratic rights. If we vote them, they must deliver, otherwise why vote?