Archive for category Democracy In Politics
Did You Know That the United States is Not a Democracy?
That’s the kind of statement that can bring up any political debate short. Most US citizens would argue it. But it’s true! For an easy laugh, ask someone who doubts you to recite the pledge of allegiance. “…and to the republic for which it stands…” Oooooh!
So if the USA isn’t a democracy, what is it? Scholars would give you a choice between “Representative Democracy” and “Constitutional Republic.” This is no small distinction! What we have in the USA is quite different from a democracy.
For an example, say a US citizen in the 2000 presidential election liked neither George Bush nor Al Gore, so they cast a vote for Ralph Nader on the belief that they were at least voting against the other two candidates. Actually, all that does is throw a vote away, thanks to the Electoral College system.
Each state has a set number of electoral votes going by district, so the candidate who gets the most votes in any given state gets all of the electoral votes in that state, even if they only got it by a single vote! An electorate just counts the votes in their precinct until a clear winner emerges, and then it’s off to the Electoral College to vote for the winner. So in that election, a vote for Ralph Nader did not cancel out a vote for George Bush. Read the rest of this entry »
Mandatory Democracy?
Mumbai had recorded dismal voting of only around 40 per cent in the third and final phase of polling in Maharashtra on April 30, 2009 for the General Elections of India. Maharashtra is one of the largest and relatively more literate and developed states of India. Several major cities of the state also recorded voting of just about the same percentage. In the first phase, polling of around 55 per cent in the Vidarbha region of the state including the backward and the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency affected districts was considered almost encouraging. But now, with poor turnout the overall Maharashtra voting becomes just 49 per cent. There were poor turnouts in most of Northern India too.
In view of this some political leaders have demanded that voting be made mandatory. Well, how do you enforce compulsory voting? By getting the abstaining voters arrested or withdrawing basic facilities from them or making them pay more taxes?
Voters understand their rights and would always like to vote provided they benefit from this. How are their expectations met? With more and more lousy promises? Read the rest of this entry »
Democracy is a Joke With Caste Based Distinctions
If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost. -Aristotle
Words of Aristotle establish the fact that a democratic coin is minted with freedom as one and equality as the other face. But in the contemporary context latter seems to be tinted.
Freedom and democracy are often used interchangeably. Democracy is indeed a set of ideas and principles about freedom. In short, democracy is the institutionalization of freedom.
But the same does not hold true for equality, primarily in India with caste distinction tightening its grip on every realm of the country’s administration.
For centuries, majority of India was persecuted, discriminated and ostracized by a minority community on the name of caste. Caste was and is inviolable to all Indians. Rather than his deeds, man has always been judged by his birth. Read the rest of this entry »
