Democracy comes at a high price

THE EDITOR: What is this thing called democracy that we fight and kill in the name of, and is it really worth the lives of innocent men, women and children?

Democracy, as defined by Aristotle is the rule for the good of the majority, and the poor and underprivileged are more often than not, the majority. As such, by Aristotle’s definition, democracy is the rule for the good of the poor and underprivileged. Can we safely say that that is what pertains in our ‘democratic’ western world? The only way we could come to any logical conclusion is by examining real examples. Out of democracy also come democratic elections. This is about installing the choice of the majority as the leader. The United States of America (that shining star of democracy), must therefore be the finest example of a nation ruled for the good of this group of people. But to begin with the majority of American citizens did not even vote for the Presidential Cowboy George W.

In addition, there are some 41 million Americans without health care. Blacks in the USA are still being stopped for driving expensive cars. Minority populations are being brutalised by the racist American police daily. The economy of the USA is in virtual tatters. Thus creating even greater suffering to the poor. So democracy does not really exist in the USA, because the USA is not governed for the benefit of the poor. In Trinidad and Tobago, the majority do not share in the country’s wealth either. Even with successive Afro-Trinidadian leaders, this group continues to lag behind the wealthy lighter skinned minority groups. So too, the East Indian population that make up a similar percentage of the population, are only marginally better off.

When the Prime Minister ignores the outcry of the majority of the population to relocate the country’s Parliament, or the cries for help by the disenfranchised, or the crime which is still out of control, or the shambolic commissions of inquiry, or the increases in ministers’ salaries, is that democratic? I do not believe that it is, as the poor remains poor. Even the so-called social programmes are so riddled with corruption that the real beneficiaries are not those who need the help most. And what of international democracy? The United Nations was set up in order to protect the world from dictators whether from the East or from the West, whether elected or inherited. It was set up to prevent war. The Security Council of the UN was specifically put in place so that consensus could be got before going to war and engaging in the decimation of countries and the taking of human lives. Countries were given a veto so that they could record their disagreement to going to war and even prevent it. It is a democratic institution!

Unfortunately, democracy comes at a high price. It means backing down when your view is outvoted. It means removing yourself from power when you are voted out. Democracy cannot be about bullying, bribing or railroading your way through because you have the biggest army. And that’s what America does not comprehend. George W neither has the moral nor legitimate authority to act as policeman, judge, juror and executioner. The world is not Texas. The US President has shown the world that democracy does not exist in so-called democratic nations. It is not the utopia that we would like to believe that it is, at least not the democracy defined by Aristotle. In its gross imperfection, it is surely not justifiable to take innocent lives over?

In fact the US President has shown himself to be a dictator who, if the war against Iraq is deemed legitimate, should be removed by the same means or be sanctioned. He will be guilty of an unprovoked attack on a State he has deemed his enemy and will be no better than Saddam. Successive US governments have backed and funded terrorist groups throughout the world. So even in ‘democratic’ States there is the issue of intimidation, bullying and high handed dictate of its citizens and its enemies.

In addition, the United States’ President is showing himself to be no more than a weapon of mass destruction himself who has manipulated the other cowardly world leaders with blatant lies, to take control of the Iraqi resources for his personal benefit. This recent controversy is yet another example of the US President’s hypocrisy and double-dealing. From very early the US President sanctioned the drilling for oil in the sensitive Arctic region even as environmental experts showed clear evidence that such action would put the global climate in great jeopardy and so cause death and devastation by the flooding of low lying countries.

In addition, history will show that it was the Americans who are the guiltiest of using weapons of mass destruction. They started life by invading the lands of North America and, with guns (then weapons of mass destruction) decimated the American Indians and stole their lands and resources. Never forget, the Americans are also the only people to have dropped an atomic bomb on innocent women and children. And now, the Americans have stated that even if Saddam and his family step down, there is no turning back. So the next time a politician tells you go die for democracy. Tell him go to ... the USA.

GARVIN NICHOLAS
Attorney-at-Law