Democracy

“Democracy” is driven from a Greek word. It can be broken down into two words: demos, meaning people, and kratia, meaning rule, strength, or might. Therefore, democracy means people ruling themselves. It implies that government is not a special group of trained bureaucrats, but all people participate in governing themselves.
 Webster Collegiate Dictionary defines democracy as follows: “1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections 2 : a political unit that has a democratic government 3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States 4 : the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority 5 : the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges.” Therefore, all the people of a society designate a number of people as their delegates, for a specified time. These individuals are elected by the people in order to establish and govern laws and regulations that would organize people’s relationships with each other. Also, by collecting taxes, the government is responsible, as well as guarantees, job, healthcare, and housing for all. This is the responsibility of a government in a democracy. This government is an agent of people, only to service them. People have the right to change any member of their elected officials at will.

Several days ago, a Chinese official responded to Ms. Clinton after she had complained about the Chinese government’s filtering of Google. He remarked that the US should not expect other countries to imitate their form of democracy. Now the question is this: does each country has its own version of democracy? For instance, is Chinese leadership, a closed government that protects a controlled capitalist agenda, a democracy? I am flabbergasted when using this word for the present Chinese government, as it identifies more with a dictatorship than with democracy. Can anyone forget pictures of tanks in Tiananmen Square,

with a young person blocking them? Whatever is the Chinese government definition of their political system, it differs far from the above definition for democracy. The so-called socialist government of China is a supporter of multinational corporations. From the time that China accessed core technology, thanks to Mao’s vision, it rapidly moved up on the technology ladder. At the present time, by injecting free market theory into the economy, it is moving fast in creating a class society, while destroying the environment. It is amazing that regimes that are cultivated from a bloody revolution for freedom and democratization, become hobnobs of capitalist systems and turn into dictatorships. Soviet Union (and its ex-satellites), China, Eastern European countries, they all have turned into governments that have no shame in dealing with the most repressive regimes, such as IRI, as long as they benefit from some deals. The French revolution was about democracy and citizenship, which produced a dictator who had grandiose ideas of conquering the world. Nazi Germany, was another example. On the other hand, viability of a system can be measured by the people benefiting from it. I was speaking to a Russian (not a fan of Communism) who had lived in Russia as an adult, before and after the collapse of Soviet Union. I asked him about life in Russia and other ex-Soviet countries in comparison to the time of Gorbachev and Soviets. He replied that the condition had gotten worse in every aspect, and those who had generated wealth through their connections with the old regime’s operatives were creating a hard life for the majority of the population.

In the US, people have the freedom to express themselves. This has no effect on the system of course; as the few running the government apparatus write and apply laws that suit their own class. In 1776, a constitution that benefited the feudal and the bourgeoisie classes of the time was written by those representing such classes. Nevertheless, according to the constitution and its amendments, no one could be prosecuted for his or her personal beliefs. Freedom of press allowed everyone to write about or advocate any views. 110 years later, in 1886, in an event known as “Haymarket Square Massacre” a meeting of a group of labor organizers was held and a police force was ordered to control the crowd. Suddenly a bomb was exploded killing many people including some police officers. It was never clear who threw the bomb, however organizers and speakers of the meeting were brought to court and convicted for inciting violence, four of which were hanged next year. About 110 years later, Dr. George Tiller, a gynecologist performing late-term abortions was targeted by the right wing Christian groups. Radio announcers made sure that he was called "a murderer" in a daily basis. Marches were arranged in front of his clinic for several years. Bill O’Reilly called him “Dr. Tiller the baby killer”. Seven years later, a woman shot him in both arms. She received 11 years of prison sentence, however the propaganda against Dr. Tiller continued. Six years after the shooting, in May 2009, a naïve and faithful follower of the Christian cause shot the Dr. again, and this time fatally. The law of over 120 years before, which punished those inciting violence in Haymarket Square event, did not touch the strong and now very powerful and wealthy O’Reilly and right wing Christians, brain washing the murderer to act as he did. Therefore, the law is ever-changing, that seems natural, except that it is always changing to benefit the rich and the powerful. The system protects a few on the top, and tramples over the majority at the bottom of the society. Most of the people work for various corporations in the US. There is one person on the top of the pyramid of each corporation (could be the proprietor, the president, or the owner), and there are some on the top of each department (in large companies) called mid-managers. The destiny of each person working in the company, as far as the hiring, remuneration, benefits, firing, is solely in the hands of the person on the top who dictates everything in the organization. Mid-managers, working as cops or lieutenants (smaller dictators), advocate and ensure rendering of the wishes of the one at the top. When the laws of the land are enacted to protect organizations, fictitious entities (although the Supreme Court recently recognized businesses having the rights to political contributions as a real person would), above the rights of human beings, the recent economical melt down causing millions of people losing their homes and jobs, is not surprising. In 1890, Mary Elizabeth Lease said: “Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.” In the same speech she added: “there are thirty men in the US whose aggregate wealth is over one and one half billion dollars. There are half a million looking for work.” About the bad economical condition of the day she said: “we want the abolition of the National Banks, and we want the power to make loans direct from the government. We want the accursed foreclosure system wiped out.” She assured people that: “we will stand by our homes and stay by our firesides by force if necessary, and we will not pay our debts to the loan-shark companies until the government pays its debts to us.” These bold statements of about 120 years ago sound pretty fresh today!

In countries such as Iran, government’s repression is open and blatant. The dictator has total disregard for democracy, and not only he does not heed to democracy, he sees it as an obstacle that should be eliminated by any means possible. In fact the dictator’s ideology preempts what is good for the society. Such tyrannical régimes dictate and mind the most personal affairs of individuals. People are constantly afraid of them and they have to hide, lie, cheat, deceive, bribe, and finally flee in order to protect themselves from the very government. In fact, the totalitarian government is one additional obstacle in people’s daily life. Despot rulers impose themselves on people with the aid of military and police. It is not easy to fight such régimes. In their recent struggle, Iranian people have found a viable method to combat dictatorship, which is of course costly and many lives are lost in the struggle. Unfortunately, most of the Iranians abroad have not really understood the strategy of this movement. The movement is demanding democracy as the first and the least requirement. Nothing further is asked at this point, since nothing else can be achieved in the absence of democracy. Those who have started questioning the existence and past atrocities of the 31 years old Islamic régime are falling behind the movement. In this struggle, non-participants of the movement who do not differentiate between opposing factions of those in power, do not understand strategies of the movements, and lack a vision for the future. In fact, they are, knowingly or unknowingly, working for the régime and against the movement. This group of people speaks of democracy without having a clear definition of what a democracy is. How can one envision a king, a leader, a selected president, and at the same time believe that ordinary people can participate in the government? We must start and work with a part of the system, due to lack of choice, and repair the system as we go. To replace a theocracy with a democracy, one has to take small steps at the beginning. When democracy is in its full fledge, all from every race, creed, color, gender, religion, and ideology have equal part in the destiny of their future. In the eyes of a democratic government, there should not be any class, degree, profession, gender, religion, or ideology preventing a mature person from exercising his or her right. The main responsibility of the government is to create suitable jobs and provide healthcare and housing for all. These are the primary responsibilities of any government. When people are able to elect a government that provides these minimum requirements for them, they are walking towards democracy.