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beyond democracy Nowadays, "democracy" rules the world. Communism has fallen, elections are happening more and more in those poor underdeveloped third world nations
in power, or change policies with which they disagree. Democracy is also related to the idea of constitutional government, setting limits beyond which a current majority
rule an individual citizens daily life and when does this influence and control go beyond the boundaries of democracy. Today in our democracy slavery is illegal,
is coalition. Manning Marable, who wrote an essay called "Beyond Racial Identity Politics: Toward a Liberation Theory for Multicultural Democracy," stated that only
cases a martyr for the principles this country was built upon; Pride, Freedom and Democracy. His ideas transcended far beyond the period in which he lived, leaving
Submitted by shibadaha on November 1, 2007
Category: Social Issues
Words: 3272 | Pages: 14
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Nowadays, "democracy" rules the world. Communism has fallen, elections are happening more and more in those poor underdeveloped third world nations you see on television, and world leaders are meeting to plan the "global community" that we hear so much about. So why isn't everybody happy, finally? For that matter—why do less than half of the eligible voters in the United States, the world's flagship democracy, even bother to vote at all?
Could it be that "democracy," long the catch-word of every revolution and resistance, is simply not democratic enough? What could be more democratic?
Every little child can grow up to be President.
No they can't. Being president means holding a hierarchical position of power, just like being a billionaire: for every one president, there have to be millions of people with less power. And just as it is for billionaires, it is for presidents: it's not any coincidence that the two types tend to rub shoulders, since they both come from a privileged world off limits to the rest of us. Our economy isn't democratic, either, you know: resources are distributed in absurdly unequal proportions, and you certainly do have to start with resources to become President, or even to get your hands on more resources.
Even if it was true that anyone could grow up to be President, that wouldn't help the millions of us who inevitably don't, who must still live in the shadow of that power. This is an intrinsic structural difficulty in representative democracy, and it occurs on the local level as much as at the top. For example: the town council, consisting of professional politicians, can meet, discuss municipal affairs, and pass ordinances all day, without consulting the citizens of the town, who have to be at work; when one of those ordinances inconveniences or angers some of the citizens, they have to go to great lengths to use their free time to contest it, and then they're gone again the...
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