I Don't Believe In Democracy

"People tell me that if you don’t vote you don’t have the right to complain. But I never voted in American Idol, either — does that mean I can’t complain about Kelly Clarkson?"
- overheard

Now let me right off the bat start with, when I say I don't believe in democracy, I don't mean there's another form of government I would prefer. I don't mean that democracy has been tried out and proven a failure. I mean it in the same sense that I don't believe in unicorns -- because though I have heard about them all my life I have yet to actually see one myself. I saw Santa Claus up in the sky when I was a kid. I've seen a couple other UFOs since then. One time I woke up from a particuarly vivid and surreal dream to find a giant bearded face watching over me. But I have never seen a democracy. Like many great, world-changing belief systems (i.e. communism or Christianity) democracy is not a failure because it has been tried and failed but rather because it has never been tried at all. Certainly not on a large scale. Athens? Only the elites could vote. America? Blacks only got the vote 138 years ago, women only 88 years ago. Convicts still can't vote -- which in a prison-industrial society like ours leads to a large disenfranchised class that is taken for granted.

Besides, not to split hairs, but even if everyone in America had the vote, the true powers of the federal government are not democratically accountable. Much of the power of Congress is in its committees, which we do not and can not vote for. The selection of Supreme Court justices is not democratic at all, and everyone already knows about the electoral college and how it, not us, truly picks the president. Everyone since 1876, at least. And seriously, it's a bit late for democracy to be tried out on a large scale anyway. Thousands of years ago when the Athenians coined the term, democracy was a revolutionary step, a quantum paradigm shift. Before democracy, someone had power over you and you had to do what they said since they controlled the military. With democracy, you get to pick the person who has power over you... and then, you have to do what they say since they control the military. That was thousands of years ago, like I said, and I find it hard to believe that this is the best system we can come up with. Scudder Klyce, in his referenced-more-than-read classic Universe said that democracy was right and every other system was wrong. If you're interested in his proof, I recommend you track down a copy of the book like I did. My belief? Asking which form of government is the best is like asking which type of cancer is the best. Democracy might be the best form of government but on the real when are we going to evolve to the point that we don't need to prop up a government to watch over us anymore?

Here's my proof that any form of government is doomed to fail, that the very notion of government is inherently flawed. Ready?

1. Government exists because people cannot be trusted or relied upon to do the right thing of their own accord. Instead, they prefer to rely on an external authority to punish or reward them.

2. This external authority, "government," is comprised of people -- who cannot be trusted or relied upon to do the right thing of their own accord.

What's the solution? A meta-government to watch over the governors? A meta-meta-government to watch over them? Stack meta upon meta until it's one meta too many and the problem is still the same.

Instead of debating whether this man or that man would be a better leader, lead yourself. Throwing aside the shackles of external authority, whether as god or government, is a crucial step towards reaching our true potential. This is an election year, and everyone has an opinion. My opinion is rather like my opinion of American Idol -- I don't vote for it, I don't care who wins. Because, like American Idol, the U.S. presidency is just a machine designed to generate loads of bucks for the shadowy capitalists behind it. Lead yourself.