The Rising Fall of Democracy
As the 2008 race for the presidency of the United States of America enters its final days before the actual election on November 4, the media covering the events have picked up on various catchwords such as “socialism” and “class warfare” from one campaign, and an appeal to appreciate the need to shoulder some of the financial burden when one has the means to do so. If anything, we are seeing a revisiting of the dilemma brought on by the Great Depression. During that stretch in American history, Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted several governmental programs to try to salvage the economy and the social system of the country, and was accused by many as trying to introduce socialism into the American democracy.
Whatever it will be classified under by the historians, the result was that the people of the United States were pulled through a difficult time. Capitalism once again flourished, the economy rebounded nicely, as did patriotism and the drive for “the American dream.”
Now, some 70 years later, everyone is talking again. About a failing economy, about the signs of the reemergence of a worldwide Great Depression, of falling stocks and diminishing monetary systems. And, once again, one of the two aspiring presidential nominees is drawing attention to their solution to the contemporary issues facing the American people. Once again, opponents are crying “Socialism” and “class warfare” in response.
I’ve always marvelled at the theory of democracy, I admit. It’s probably because of the theory upon which it’s founded: a government by the people for the people. In theory, it sounds good. On paper, it sounds good. But there is an underlying problem which keeps getting overlooked by everyone, it seems. And so, the gospel of Democracy continues to be spread around the globe, oblivious to the reality.
Democracy has been promoted as the ideal form of government, because it is a consensual rule rather than an imposed one. Decisions are made by the majority, and they decide for their own selves which laws and regulations which they will be governed by. Leaders are elected to office to represent their constituents in the higher echelons of government and speak in behalf of those who elected them into office, and to work hard to defend the rights of the people.
But the reality is that Democracy is far less than we hoped it would be, far less than the theory would lead us to believe. It is the highest form of government, for a certainty, the ideal to which we as humans aspire precisely because it promotes freedom from government by allowing ourselves to be ruled only to the extent that we choose to be ruled.
But that’s the underlying issue, isn’t it? No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape the core problem that we were never meant to rule ourselves, just as we were never meant to rule and dominate one another. In that sense, Democracy, while the clearcut winner in the pool of human governments, is paradoxically also the epitome of failure in humankind’s ability to govern himself apart from his Creator. In that sense, I have every reason to believe that it is truly the final form of human government that we will see.
That’s not to say that we won’t see reversions back to earlier forms of governments and associated tyrannies. In fact, one school of thought is that there will be a new emergence of a fascist or dictatorial form of government that will bring with it a newfound Great Tribulation unlike the world has ever seen. Some have indicated that it is already emerging on the world scene, and that the latest financial catastrophe may in some way be connected with it. I, of course, have my own speculation on the matter and may address it in a future entry.
But come what may, one thing needs to be reiterated here: Democracy is not the answer. It never was, no matter how much we want to believe it is. No matter who wins the election here in the United States. It is doomed to failure because humankind simply does not have within itself the capacity to truly know the difference between good and evil with no regard to the Creator.
It is, after all, our answer to the suggestion which God put forth to Adam and Eve, who took it upon themselves to decide between what would be good and what would be bad. It was in the Garden of Eden that Democracy was born. It hasn’t really held up under actual practice, however.
When a people, such as the United States of America, agrees to pay $700 billion dollars in order to shore up corporations, banks, and big businesses rather than suffer through the inevitable consequences of fast living based on credit and consumerism, it reveals an ugly truth about ourselves. It reveals that in spite of what we claim and hide behind under the guise of Democracy, we are self-absorbed in our own self-interests, with little to no regard for others unless and until it infringes upon our comfort.
We could have tightened up our belts and strapped on our boots and pulled together with determination as we went through the fallout from our excessiveness and indulgences if we really believed in the dream of Democracy. But we didn’t. We bought into the fear instilled by politicians and financial experts and the media. We bought into the fear instilled by plummeting numbers on the Stock Market. We bought into the lies in order to continue to lie to ourselves that Democracy will work, and it won’t cost us anything–if we throw enough money at it. Once we do that, we’ll be able to go on feeding our indulgences, living on credit, consuming the goods, enjoying entertainment…
But it doesn’t appear to be working. Stocks continue to stagger in uncertainties, politicians continue to plead their case with us that they have the solutions which will save the lifestyles that we have become accustomed to, and all the while unemployment numbers are up, home foreclosures are up, and national morale is nearing an all-time low.
Yet we continue to hope that somehow, Democracy will pull through… if not for us, then for our children. If not for our children, then surely for their children.
Yes, we will continue to lie to ourselves and deny the truth. We will continue to refuse to become “our brother’s keeper.”
I mentioned earlier how we were oh so willing to pay out $700 billion in order to stave off the threats of another Great Depression, rather than admitting that we’ve lived far too long “high on the hog” and that for that there are consequences. We failed to accept our accountability as a people who like to go around promoting Democracy as the best form of government ever to exist, because we as a people would much rather take the good than the bad.
If ever someone was going to make a case for the validity of Democracy as a form of human government, it would have been when Wall Street was crying out for a bailout. We could have said, “No. This is the result of conscious decisions. There are consequences for those decisions, like it or not.” But we didn’t, because we were afraid of what it might cost us. It might have caused us to lose our creature comforts, our lifestyles.
We could have, experts have said, for the same amount of money that we gave to the profiteering conglomerates on Wall Street, stamped out hunger, poverty, and malnutrition worldwide. One such expert, Devinder Sharma, wrote:
The additional US $900 billion that the US has spent in the past one year could have pulled out the world’s estimated 2 billion poor from perpetual poverty and that too on a long-term sustainable basis. The US $700 billion bailout package that George Bush is promising could have wiped out the last traces of poverty, hunger, malnutrition and squalor from the face of the Earth. [Global Priority: Feeding Markets, Starving Hungry]
Clearly, we’re more interested in self-preservation than in living up to such a humble premise as demonstrating to the entire world that “I am my brother’s keeper. I will share what I have, that nobody might have to go without.” And to justify our indifference, we will continue to hail Democracy as the ideal, all the while proudly proclaiming the gospel of Democracy to the rest of the world, inviting them to be just like us.

