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Democracy
Democracy, whether it is direct or representative is a failure. Always has been and always will be, for one simple reason...it is unrestrained.
What the majority decides today becomes law tomorrow...until the next majority takes it away or amends it the day after. Legislations are driven by emotions rather than logic and he who controls the information flow (government education and mainstream media), controls the emotions. In a democracy the emotionally charged citizens will demand “justice” by punishing the criminal, which is fair, but then take it a step further by punishing the freedom (through legislation) that the criminal abused to commit the crime.
As Benedict LaRosa wrote in Democracy or Republic, Which is it? You punish the abuser of the freedom, not the freedom itself.
There are no rights in a democracy, only privileges. Privileges that can be taken away by 51% of the eligible voters in a direct democracy or 51% of the elected politicians in a representative democracy. In our case here in New Zealand, 62 of the 122 parliamentarians are all that is required for Bills to pass into law.
When the citizens demand a Binding Referendum, they are in fact asking the government to grant them the privilege of voting directly on various issues. This is direct democracy. The very first democracy was the Athenian direct democracy which failed miserably and never tried again for thousands of years! Many argue that direct democracy would be much more efficient with modern technology, but that simply ignores the absurd notion that the majority of one select group, can collectively impose their private law on those who disagree. Nothing is binding in a democracy because there are no rights, only privileges. If the will of the majority wants a binding referendum then it becomes law until the next majority repeals it, in which case it was never binding in the first place. This is the nature of democracy, unrestrained.
How is it fair that 122 politicians whose votes are influenced by various special interest groups can make their private law public law, forcing 4 ¾ Million kiwis to comply, including every kiwi born after the vote?
As kiwis we are encouraged to vote in the general election. One day in every 1095 days the citizens exercise their democratic right to vote for who gets to exercise their democratic right to vote for the next 1094 days!
For the 3 years between elections the citizens complain about lack of representation and the need to be heard. Citizens resort to polls with overwhelming majorities against the Auckland Supercity, against the Anti Smacking Bill and for Binding Referendums...yet the 122 politicians in parliament ignores these polls. Is this not prima facia evidence that the elected representatives are actually representing someone else’s interests?
Because it is unrestrained, anything goes. Bills are passed all day everyday, eventually so many laws are created that we all become criminals even though our behaviour hasn't changed from one day to the next.
However when it suits the agenda of control, the politicians will jump to the aid of any grieving victim who is calling for more restrictive laws. No law will return their loved ones but the new restrictive laws will only serve to help the healing of the victim’s families, but also punish the freedom of all those still alive, including the affected families themselves. In the long run, it is self defeating.
The most common complaint is that whichever party you elect they will often prove to be no different than the last if not worse! The frustration mounts.
Einstein defines insanity as "doing the same thing over again and expecting different results".
How often do we have to keep voting until we work out that we are insane for not realising that the system we are obsessed with fixing, is not even broken. It works exactly as it is designed to work.
Democracy is the illusion of control.
