"The Only Constant in Life Is Change" - Heraclitus
Like it or not, democracy is failing. Every system has its flaw and democracy is starting to show its. Neither do I have a degree in politics nor I am an intellectual, but being stupid also doesn’t stop me from seeing things that are happening around me. Most of the countries are moving away from democracy and adopting autocracy. It is the quickest way for countries to strengthen their military and economy. Let suppose I am in a democratic country and I want to use 10% of the whole budget for space exploration. I cannot use the money until it gets approved by the majority of the people. I have to convince everyone that it’s an investment for the future and in the meantime I would loose valuable time. Time is the most valuable asset, it is so important that Pink Floyd had to write a song on it.
Imagine China being a democracy. Had it been a democracy, it would not have grown to be the second largest economy in the world. You cannot vote in China until you are the member of the Communist Party of China. It is ruled by the Communist Party of China and the party is always right. There is no asking if they want to spend 10% of the budget on space exploration and because of that they already have their flag on the moon claiming parts of it. They even recently sent a robotic fish to the deepest of the ocean. No other country was able to achieve what China has achieved in such short span of time. But you cannot compare China with North Korea. Obviously I don’t have to tell you about Kim Jong-un.
Look at Russia, do you think it’s a democracy. Even though their constitution mentions democracy, I will not call it a democracy, rather an autocratic government. Vladimir Putin controls almost everything. He puts anyone in jail who disagrees with him. He controls Russia.
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know what is going on in Myanmar. There is no democracy in the country at the moment. The military kills more than 100 people and they don’t have to answer to anyone. They are killing 15 years old students, direct bullet in the back of the head. The scary thing is, the public are asking for International bodies to interfere and they haven’t received any help. They are helpless. We will be one day too.
Now let’s bring all our attention to another one such nation which mentions democracy in its constitution but is now moving away from it, India. This is my country. India is currently being ruled by the BJP Government which is heavily influenced by RSS, a nationalist organisation. In another few years, India will turn into China/Iran. It will only be ruled by one party. Women will be banned from consuming alcohol, going out at night and will be asked to wear only traditional Indian attire. The party members of BJP are already condemning western dresses in public. I think the most affected will be the women population. Anyone raising voice against the government is being put behind the bars. The BJP Government even created a new law called the UAPA to strengthen its motto. I am not saying, there will be no voting and thus one research institute from Sweden, the V-Dem Institute have described India as Electoral Democracy. But the BJP Government has failed the Indian economy. The Communist Party of China has a strong hold on all its major companies and they keep all of them under the Chinese Government. But the BJP Government of India is selling most of its public companies to private parties. This only shows that the party is inefficient in corporate strategy. They are not confident enough on running the public sector industries. Until we have a government that can handle its economy, we don’t have the right government.
I totally understand that this article doesn’t make any sense. The title says something, the content is another thing. I just needed a title for the article and this is what I could come up with. All views are personal.
Excellent post. I am hopeful the pendulum will swing back to democracy. When I visited China, I observed a move toward more freedoms. Like you say, most can’t vote, but they are conducting their lives in a more open way. Democracy has edged forward a bit in my country, the USA, but still has a long way to go from the abuses of recent years. One of my most revered world leaders is Mahatma Gandhi, who I studied at UC Santa Barbara, where an Indian native (Prof. Iyer) was my favorite political science professor. Like other humans, Gandhi had his imperfections, but his words still inspire me. Where are voices like his now?
Thank you for reading the post Reg. So nice to hear that you are inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his methods. I too wish for the pendulum to swing back to democracy. I also wish I could tell you that there are many who still follow Gandhi and his methods. But the reality is people are too busy with their personal motives and very few work towards the betterment of the society. Even me, I am just a keyboard warrior, never did any real good towards the society. It’s people like Professor Iyer who makes a difference in the society.
Great post. I live in the USA and the powers that be are trying like the devil to take away our freedoms as well, but the people know that there are more of them than there will ever be of the crooked politicians and we will either fight or die trying. We need all the prayers we can get.
USA is one of the strongest democracies in the world. I like the freedom of speech of USA which is no longer alive in India.
That’s true. But many in power are trying to take our freedoms away. And our media have gone corrupt as well. Luckily, we have enough people who are pushing back and giving them a run for their money.
I truly believe the good is USA will come out and defeat the evil. My best wishesh!
Thank you so much! And I believe we will too. 🙂