Cleisthenes, the father of Athenian democracy
It’s been high jacked by the ‘popularists’
The democratic process was designed so society could move forward, towards a better future, by voting in people with vision, compassion and a willingness to selflessly serve society.
We now have candidates running for office who are more interested in remaining in power than doing anything positive.
No sooner do they win an election than they put all their resources into being re elected and remaining in power.
Their only strategy is to win the next election and their only policy is to pander to their electoral base.
Any media who is against them is considered ‘fake news’, any opposition organisations are regarded as ‘terrorists’ and any inquiries into their behaviour is a ‘witch hunt’.
They try to divide the citizens into good and bad.
This phenomenon isn’t restricted to crackpots and political minions like Pauline Hanson or Jackie Lamby in Australia. It’s playing out on a world stage, at a very high level.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Beata Maria Szydło in Poland, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Hun Sen in Cambodia and even, as unlikely as it may seem, Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, who has turned a blind eye to the ethic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims.
The list goes on.
And let’s not forget, Donald Trump in the USA.
They all claim that they have a mandate and are doing if for the ultimate good of the people.
Foreign policy is even used as tool to promote the local popularist agenda.
The increased US sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea will do nothing to solve the issues. They will however pander to Trump’s electoral base.
The same goes for the right wing Polish government’s demonising of Lech Wałęsa, a pivotal figure in the Solidarity movement.
And now, Erdoğan is encouraging the Turks, living in Germany, to vote against Angela Merkel because of her opposition to his draconian measures.
History has also had its fair share of those seeking the popular vote.
Stalin in Russia, Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Tito in Yugoslavia, Franco in Spain. And more recently Frank Bainimarama in Fiji.
They are just a few who have come to power with a popularist agenda. Which usually involves marginalising some part of their society.
Then there are the countries that have tried to avoid popularist politics by holding a referendum on divisive issues.
That didn’t all go well for the Conservatives in the U.K. Now they have Teresa May and Brexit to contend with.
There’s also trouble in the UK, north of the border, with Scotland wondering how they will survive when they are out of the EU.
Closer to home we have Malcom-in-the-Middle wondering what to do with an ex PM who seems to want to grab onto the popularist mantle and do a Lazarus, back to the top spot.
Abbott is also playing a sly hand with branch politics within the Liberal Party – some might even call it ‘branch stacking’.
All this back room politicking is happening in Australia, while housing is becoming unaffordable, infrastructure needs replacing, banks and aged care facilities are screwing their customers, climate change and aboriginal rights are being politicised, and farmers are being sidelined by the supermarket chains.
Now same sex marriage has gone to a postal vote, because the politicians don’t have the guts to have a ‘conscience vote’.
Basically no one is looking to the future.
The collective eyes are most definitely off the ball.
Many Australians seem to share my view about the demise of the current political system.
According to research, commissioned by the Museum of Australian Democracy in 2016, satisfaction with democracy has halved over the last decade.
The same research also found that federal governments, of any persuasion, were incapable of solving current issues.
The Athenians, led by Cleisthenes, established the first democracy in 508 to 507 BC.
Democracy has always been considered as the answer for social justice and equality. A system that allows all members to have equal say and power. (However this form of ancient democracy did exclude women, slaves, men under 20, foreigners and non-land owners.)
The Greek meaning of democracy is ’the rule of the people’
Popularists polarise and try to convince the electorate that only they have the answers.
If you’re not with them, you are the enemy of the people and therefore against everything that they believe is ‘good and just’.
Articulation is the answer, the ability to convince people that there are alternatives.
Not a popularist way but a way forward – one that delivers benefits to all of society.
Not policy on the run at 120 character bursts of incongruity.
There is hope and it comes from North America, Europe and across the ditch in New Zealand.
Emmanuel Macron in France, Justin Trudeau in Canada and Jacinda Ardern in NZ are offering sane, sensible and rational alternatives.
They are seen as a ray of hope, in a world of turmoil.
It will come down to how well these young, new wave, politicians can articulate their vision for the future.
Let’s hope that more politicians can move their countries forward, not just push their own agendas.
This will only happen if they can get society involved in the debate and participate in the decision making.
Then democracy may yet survive.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 15th, 2017 at 6:45 am and is filed under Comment, Grumbling.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Democracy is dead.
Cleisthenes, the father of Athenian democracy
It’s been high jacked by the ‘popularists’
The democratic process was designed so society could move forward, towards a better future, by voting in people with vision, compassion and a willingness to selflessly serve society.
We now have candidates running for office who are more interested in remaining in power than doing anything positive.
No sooner do they win an election than they put all their resources into being re elected and remaining in power.
Their only strategy is to win the next election and their only policy is to pander to their electoral base.
Any media who is against them is considered ‘fake news’, any opposition organisations are regarded as ‘terrorists’ and any inquiries into their behaviour is a ‘witch hunt’.
They try to divide the citizens into good and bad.
This phenomenon isn’t restricted to crackpots and political minions like Pauline Hanson or Jackie Lamby in Australia. It’s playing out on a world stage, at a very high level.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Beata Maria Szydło in Poland, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Hun Sen in Cambodia and even, as unlikely as it may seem, Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, who has turned a blind eye to the ethic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims.
The list goes on.
And let’s not forget, Donald Trump in the USA.
They all claim that they have a mandate and are doing if for the ultimate good of the people.
Foreign policy is even used as tool to promote the local popularist agenda.
The increased US sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea will do nothing to solve the issues. They will however pander to Trump’s electoral base.
The same goes for the right wing Polish government’s demonising of Lech Wałęsa, a pivotal figure in the Solidarity movement.
And now, Erdoğan is encouraging the Turks, living in Germany, to vote against Angela Merkel because of her opposition to his draconian measures.
History has also had its fair share of those seeking the popular vote.
Stalin in Russia, Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, Tito in Yugoslavia, Franco in Spain. And more recently Frank Bainimarama in Fiji.
They are just a few who have come to power with a popularist agenda. Which usually involves marginalising some part of their society.
Then there are the countries that have tried to avoid popularist politics by holding a referendum on divisive issues.
That didn’t all go well for the Conservatives in the U.K. Now they have Teresa May and Brexit to contend with.
There’s also trouble in the UK, north of the border, with Scotland wondering how they will survive when they are out of the EU.
Closer to home we have Malcom-in-the-Middle wondering what to do with an ex PM who seems to want to grab onto the popularist mantle and do a Lazarus, back to the top spot.
Abbott is also playing a sly hand with branch politics within the Liberal Party – some might even call it ‘branch stacking’.
All this back room politicking is happening in Australia, while housing is becoming unaffordable, infrastructure needs replacing, banks and aged care facilities are screwing their customers, climate change and aboriginal rights are being politicised, and farmers are being sidelined by the supermarket chains.
Now same sex marriage has gone to a postal vote, because the politicians don’t have the guts to have a ‘conscience vote’.
Basically no one is looking to the future.
The collective eyes are most definitely off the ball.
Many Australians seem to share my view about the demise of the current political system.
According to research, commissioned by the Museum of Australian Democracy in 2016, satisfaction with democracy has halved over the last decade.
The same research also found that federal governments, of any persuasion, were incapable of solving current issues.
The Athenians, led by Cleisthenes, established the first democracy in 508 to 507 BC.
Democracy has always been considered as the answer for social justice and equality. A system that allows all members to have equal say and power. (However this form of ancient democracy did exclude women, slaves, men under 20, foreigners and non-land owners.)
The Greek meaning of democracy is ’the rule of the people’
Popularists polarise and try to convince the electorate that only they have the answers.
If you’re not with them, you are the enemy of the people and therefore against everything that they believe is ‘good and just’.
Articulation is the answer, the ability to convince people that there are alternatives.
Not a popularist way but a way forward – one that delivers benefits to all of society.
Not policy on the run at 120 character bursts of incongruity.
There is hope and it comes from North America, Europe and across the ditch in New Zealand.
Emmanuel Macron in France, Justin Trudeau in Canada and Jacinda Ardern in NZ are offering sane, sensible and rational alternatives.
They are seen as a ray of hope, in a world of turmoil.
It will come down to how well these young, new wave, politicians can articulate their vision for the future.
Let’s hope that more politicians can move their countries forward, not just push their own agendas.
This will only happen if they can get society involved in the debate and participate in the decision making.
Then democracy may yet survive.
This entry was posted on Friday, September 15th, 2017 at 6:45 am and is filed under Comment, Grumbling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.