#8 We Can't Let Democracy Die
The global situation in 2021 has a blowing effect on the world values, that most of humanity upholds. Even though liberalism cannot be an answer for all questions, we are in need of it, at least for a decade. Because we don’t have yet another story that exists, which can explain the world, and propose ways for the betterment of society, as a whole.
Welcome to Culture Man, I’m your host Akhilesh. And today, we’re gonna get into the world of democracy, and autocracy. I was actually reading an English newspaper when I found the news: Sudan Government Overthrown by The Military.
I wasn’t impressed by the moving of the world. Because democracy is overthrown, and the military generals are tempted on ruling the country. I won’t justify the Governments either. Because most of them are corrupted. But autocracy is not a solution for corruption. What the military must do is to create a subsidiary government, until a democratic government is elected through a proper election. The military must conduct such an election if it loses faith in a Government. And if we consider autocracy, even if the autocrat is good, the next generation will be the worst in the world. From the experiences from World history, we can assure that will be the end of that country.
According to Harari, the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, the rise and fall of the fascist story and communist story along with the Second World War, and Cold War respectively, proved them less powerful than the liberal story, which upholds the stood for liberty, or freedom of the people with fewer restrictions. But with the 2008 global financial crisis, led people to disillusionment, which led at least some people to disbelieve in the liberal story.
But we don’t have yet another story to believe and move on with. But that doesn’t mean that the age of Humanity is over, or it’s exhausting of the incredible frustrations it suffers from.
An excerpt from YN Harari’s book 21 Lessons For 21st Century, is worth mentioning:
“The liberal story celebrates the value and power of liberty. It says that for thousands of years humankind lived under oppressive regimes which allowed people few political rights, economic opportunities, or personal liberties, and which heavily restricted the movements of individuals, ideas, and goods. but people fought for their freedom, and step by step, liberty gained ground. democratic regimes took the place of brutal dictatorships. Free enterprise overcame economic restrictions. People learned to think themselves and follow their hearts, instead of blindly obeying bigoted priests and hidebound traditions. Open roads, stout bridges, and bustling airports replaced walls, moats, and barbed-wire fences.
The liberal story acknowledges that not all is well in the world, and there are still many hurdles to overcome. much of our planet is dominated by tyrants, and even in the most liberal countries, many citizens suffer from poverty, violence, and oppression. but at least we know what we need to do in order to overcome these problems: give people more liberty. We need to protect human rights, to grant everybody the vote, to establish free markets, and to let individuals, ideas, and goods move throughout the world as easily as possible. According to this liberal panacea - accepted, in slight variations, by George W Bush and Barack Obama alike - if we just continue to liberalize and globalize our political and economic systems, we will produce peace and prosperity for all.”
Democracy is the brilliant master plan built for the people, by the people. So we cannot just avoid it and move on, just because we don’t have an alternate plan or a subsidiary theory that can reinforce peace and prosperity to humans.
The recent 2021, witnesses a lot of unexpected collision of theories such as democracy versus religious autocracy, and democracy versus military dictatorships.
Autocrats cannot bring peace and prosperity. Maybe they can prosper a nation with wealth, but not with the peaceful life of their subjects and with the freedom of the people to voice their opinions.
In an autocratic utopia, most of the population won’t have mouths. Even if they have, they won’t talk, because they won’t talk later. Whatever we say, all these concepts are for a peaceful life!
Nothing can cost more than life!
When it comes to democracy, people elect their leaders, and they voice their opinions without fear. For most of the part, it provides a better surrounding for the people to live in comfort without suffocation and fear. Corruption is a truth that settles on both sides. One of the famous drawbacks of democracy is pointed out by Bertrand Russel, in his book New Hopes For A Changing World:
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.”
But I still believe that mistakes in a democracy are better than mistakes in an autocracy. Another quote from the 30th US President Calvin Coolidge supports my argument:
“It would be folly to argue that the people cannot make political mistakes. They can and do make grave mistakes. They know it, they pay the penalty, but compared with the mistakes which have been made by every kind of autocracy they are unimportant.”
The Myanmar Government was overthrown by Tatmadaw, the Myanmar Military,
Religious extremist group Taliban capturing Afghanistan,
The Sudanese army has overthrown the Government…
All these are 2021 global trends, that darkens the life of millions of people, whose voices are suppressed, and who lives without hope because they could’ve been wiped out any moment from the planet, like wiping bacterias on a table with an antiseptic.
Countries like Russia, China, and North Korea, are direct examples of autocracy.
In Russia, Putin may claim Russia as a democratic country, with the knowledge it isn’t in all senses. from the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to the cheats in the Duma Election, and from the altering of Russian constitutional limit for the President, Putin actually leads the country to big challenges.
In the case of China, the Polit Bureau and the People Liberation Army Heads, lead luxurious lives, which disintegrate the country, in the worst way, one could expect from a Government.
From this, the failure of the Communist story is clear: The power wasn’t actually hand-overed to the people, as the Communist Manifesto urged to; instead, the leaders of the Communist Party, ruled an autocratic administration, which they believed was right.
In the case of North Korea, we all know that Kim is the last word of the country, and even the laws are below him. Instead of focusing on improving the standard of living of the population, he made ballistic missiles and atom bombs, which he claims, are for the national security of the country. But why security, when the people die in severe poverty, is the thundering question, that Kim won’t understand in his lifetime. But we know the actual point that Kim only concentrates on improving his own life.
Democracy must not die in the flames of autocracy. Without freedom, the world cannot progress over a limit, when it comes to the happiness of society as a whole. At least we must continue to not let democracy die, until the dawn of an alternative, that can promise a better world than today.
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