Life On A B-I7

Democracy

We make lots of choices in life. Some of us choose to learn and think, some choose to listen, and some choose to do neither. The result of those choices can lead to undesirable events. When the choice of one or the other is endemic, that can have a dire impact on a democracy. If we look at the many democracies that have come and gone in the past, there appears a common thread. When the populous chooses to discard learning and instead listen to one individual, allowing that individual to do their thinking for them, that has historically led to a fundamental disruption. A disruption that in most cases has been the precursor to the fall of that democracy.

Our founders believed they had designed a type of democracy that had the institutional strength to resist the sort of tyranny that misguided masses can wreck upon their government. While they came closer than probably any democracy that preceded the one they established, we now know that there is no sure thing that can guarantee the preservation of a government, even one as perfect as our own. The key lies in two things that are never guaranteed. The willingness of the governed to think for themselves and participate in their government, and the willingness of their elected leaders to choose the good of the society over their personal preferences. Whether their preference is for power or whether it is for the imposition of their morals over their fellows, in either case, the will of the populous being ignored, the government is likely to fall into corruption.