Let’s face it. Our existing political leadership is a failure - and efforts to have them change their course of action meets with refusal.
What and where does that leave us?
Democracy can guide us. Both in terms of its powers and also because those few that are resisting the will of the people need to destroy it. The very fear the ruling class (the 1%) has of democracy itself and their hell-bent efforts to remove it gives us the clues we need to engage it. We need the 1% to realize on their fears of majority rule. If they are afraid of it - let’s make it the reality.
There is only one thing we need to consider: If there is an alternative, what is it? I cannot see it anywhere on the horizon. Efforts have been repeatedly taken by calls of the majority to change the direction of the politicians - who are seated in the very chairs that create laws, regulations, and the overall course of society. They refuse. Flatly refuse. The politicians are entrenched with representing the will of the 1% elite while tamping down the will of the majority through empty promises and lame excuses.
The 1% have systematically removed everything standing in their way. They have corporatized the media to propagandize their rhetoric. They have ensured that all economic resources flow in their direction. They have removed, or effectively weakened, the laws that would hold their actions to account. They have removed many of the regulations and ensured that those that remain are either self-reported on by the very corporations that violate them or ensured that enforcement resources have been suppressed and ineffective as to their very purpose. Recently, we see that they have - on several fronts - ensured that law enforcement is directly used to suppress resistance to their wishes.
The 1% has twisted the politicians - through political parties - to represent their interests. They have left electoral choices to simply be different flavours of their own wishes. When electoral choices only offer the same choice regardless of voter selection under different names and tribal colours, the public is given - essentially - no choice. This is exemplified by corporate political donations. They simply donate to each political party - because they already know that the electoral outcome will meet their requirements regardless of outcome. They will directly invest in lobbyists to ensure their outcomes are met and - in numerous cases - even craft the applicable legislation to that end. These interests have the system rigged regardless of the democratic process.
In democracy, it is a zero-sum game by design. Many decisions reflect the wishes of one group at the expense of the wishes of another group. But it is not a game when the outcome favours one group repeatedly at the expense of the other and the result is guaranteed before the game is even played. That is the definition of a rigged game - it is the definition of corruptive influence.
There are repeated clear cases of this rigged outcome playing out. The majority want corporations held to account for their actions. The majority want fair taxation, equitable justice, clean water, clean air, quality education for their children, healthcare treated as a right, and the safety of their persons, property, and communities ensured. This list is endless and echoed by repeated polling results.
The rules of democracy are very basic - the decisions of the majority carry the day. But - the 1% influence has tamped down - and, in numerous cases, thwarted the wishes of the majority. The bottom line is that democracy is severely crippled; it is the wishes of the few (the 1%) that carry the day.
Democracy Is Still Here
The 1% have marginalized democracy and they are actively seeking to remove it completely - in favour of autocratic and oligarchical structures. Democracy is in intensive care condition. But it is still alive - and it can still be restored to health. That remains the biggest threat to the 1%.
What if the majority actually assert their democratic authority and power? The 1% absolutely understands that democracy is its biggest threat. The majority can still rise up and restore democracy which would thwart their agenda. A majority can ‘recall’ the politicians and resume control over its democratic institutions. The majority can kick the 1% out of all positions of authority - and even hold the 1% to legal account, prosecution, and punishment.
There is only one requirement for democracy to be restored to health: that cure is civic engagement.
First, there is no role in democracy for political parties. Many may hold thoughts and even be convinced that political parties are a requirement of a democracy. That is false. The pure definition of democracy directly alludes to where democratic power resides.
It cannot be more clear: “A government by the people especially rule of the majority”. There is no role in the very definition of democracy for a political party. Absolutely none.
Civic Responsibility is the Cure
How does democracy work without the structure of political parties to structurally support it? Assume a community structure defined by federal electoral districts (or “ridings”). The majority of the people within their community decide the direction of their community in terms of laws, issues, and directives. Imagine all the people in each district meeting in a Town Hall venue - presenting and debating over issues deemed applicable to their community. To render community policy direction they vote - and 50% + 1 of those votes determines the direction, policy or issue position.
That is how it is designed to work! It is not even a change in its design! It is designed that way. The evolution of political parties is actually what has no place in a true democracy. Political parties create a wedge between people and their communities and the seats of political power (aka government).
Within the “Town Hall” structure of each community electoral district, the people also select who they choose among them to represent them in the broader national institutions of democratic government. These representatives literally are tasked to advocate for the policy directions of their community among similarly appointed individuals from all the other districts.
In this democratic structure - there is absolutely no role - zero - for lobbyists, special interests, political parties, or any other vessel of influence designed to obstruct, thwart, or in any way marginalize the policy positions of the communities from which the political representatives hail from. Democracy works. It is community-based civic actions that is the root of power and authority.
We have fallen asleep. We have abandoned our civic responsibilities. We have failed to meet with the neighbours in our communities to embrace our democratic processes. We have allowed the few - using the structures of centralized national political parties (led by un-elected officials) to tell the communities what they will get. That is completely backwards!!!
We have become apathetic and allowed the 1% - the so few as to be completely removed from any voice of a majority - to take the reins of democratic authority from us. We have fallen asleep and ignored our civic responsibilities. Across our communities, as little as 100-hours of engagement a year would restore the health of our democracies.
It is time we wake up and apply the cure to our democratic power and authority. It takes each of us to actively commit to the 100-hours of civic responsibility that democracy requires. It takes each of us to gather at a local Town Hall with our neighbours and chart the course we want our communities, our societies, and our lives to take.
We can do that. We simply need to wake up and commit to our own futures. And that commitment is the civic responsibility that embraces a healthy democracy. Surely, we can do that.