A new society ‑ democracy.
We call our Western societies democratic societies. We equate Capitalism with democracy, although some of the most ruthless dictatorships in the world have been and are capitalist.
Capitalism, it is true, in some countries has freed the mass of the population from feudal bondage. The capitalists needed a work-force that was free to move anywhere it was required. They had to promote the idea of freedom and equality to assert themselves against the absolute power of the feudal nobility.
But once they had obtained a place in government for themselves they were satisfied, and certainly they were not keen to make it easy for the rest of the population, which constituted the majority, to obtain the same democratic rights as themselves.
Therefore, at first, the right to vote at elections was very limited, and it took a long and often violent struggle for the workforce, including women, to obtain the right to vote, to form associations and Unions. But even the universal right to vote at elections is just not enough to make a society a really democratic society. There are many factors which can nullify all democratic principles, make a mockery of the election process, and frustrate all peaceful movements for democratic change.
There cannot be a real democracy if the majority of society is not educated to objective and independent thinking.
There cannot be a real democracy if the means of information and persuasion are directly controlled or indirectly influenced by the establishment or by the vested interests of just one class.
There cannot be a real democracy if the elected representatives are allowed to become an entrenched profession.
There cannot be a real democracy if the executive branches of government, the law, the police, etc. are directly controlled or indirectly influenced by the establishment, and have become themselves a social class with a vested interest in conservatism.
All these undemocratic features are, to different degrees, a fact of life in our so called democracies.
In our society, education for the majority of the population is limited, and it is oriented mainly to the needs of the industries within capitalist economy. It is certainly not oriented to educate the population to independent inquiring thinking, but rather to accept without question the ‘status quo’, and the principles and philosophy of the establishment as the ‘law of the land’.
The media is in the hands of businessmen and, therefore, as much as it tries to be objective and impartial, on the most important issues it must instinctively lean in favour of Capitalism. Even if it is often outspoken and critical about our economic and social problems (an attitude which also promotes better ratings and sales) it never questions the essence of the system. At most it advocates ‘band aid’ remedies which do not threaten the establishment, and are within the limits of capitalist economy. We never hear or read the word Capitalism in the Mass Media.
Because of ignorance, biased information and a long history of inefficiency and corruption in private and public life, the majority of the population has become apathetic and cynical towards politics and politicians.
Political power is delegated to professional politicians whether they are party or union leaders, in government or in opposition. They are more interested in being re elected than to risk their positions and incomes by being too honest or by offending the establishment that controls the media.
Because there is no limit to their terms of office, most of them become ossified and entrenched. They stay on until they reach old age, and even those who were elected to oppose the establishment eventually tend to forget the reason why they were elected in the first place. The majority become themselves a part of the elite, more an instrument to stunt than to promote movements for change.
These professional politicians have the power to appoint the executive heads of the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the police, etc.
Most of these officials come from the middle class, and those who do not, soon tend to join it. Therefore, conservatism pervades all the higher levels of the capitalist structure.
Everything in ‘capitalist democracy’, including the constitution, is aimed at preserving the capitalist system and to retard or prevent change. This situation breeds frustration and, in times of crisis and pressing need for change this frustration turns into desperation and violence of one kind or another. Violence breeds violence and so on; therefore, this pseudo democracy step by step turns into an oppressive regime.
A new society democratic process.
With general education oriented towards independent thinking and social awareness, and a media which is objective and open to all ideas and opinions in the society, what is needed for a really democratic process is a mechanism which would hinder the entrenchment of elected or appointed officials in positions of power, and would prevent their gradual detachment from the mass of the people and the main life of the society.
It is not for me to devise such a mechanism; I can only express an opinion on what the main principles could be.
First of all, there should be a maximum limit of time on the tenure of office, after which all elected and appointed officials should go back to their previous occupations. Those who held office could not be re elected again for a set period of time; but so that the talents of those who have excelled in office should not be wasted, they could participate in a part time advisory body or council.
The length of tenure of office could be a total of four years: two people elected at two years distance and serving at the same time could intercalate every two years; such a system has already been experimented seemingly with success. It means that at all times there would be four people in any position of importance, two in charge and two gaining experience.
Candidates aspiring to official positions should be subjected to a test by an independent body to assess their competence and their social awareness, basic Human and social education being essential. The public then, by vote, could pick their representatives and officials from the group of successful candidates. This should ensure that elected officials would be both competent and popular.
While the privacy of the personal life of every individual and public official must be respected, there should not be secrecy in public life or in any activity affecting the public and society. In an educated society, people should not be treated like fools who cannot be trusted or expected to understand why and how decisions are made.
In public life, only persons who have something to hide or are not sincere must favour secrecy about activities that affect the public. The thinking process, the logic and specific data by which we arrive at decisions that affect the society, and all records of this process, must be open to all people. The destruction or shredding of documents should be considered a crime.
Nobody is perfect, and mistakes are often inevitable. Therefore, mistakes made in good faith with good intentions should not become a personal stigma.
Regarding the overall structure of the society, the direction of consensus and power should flow from the individual in the smaller units and communities, and from these to the larger organization of the society.
There should not be compulsion on small self sufficient communities from the larger organizations self sufficiency means independence. Participation in the larger Society should be by free will. Self sufficient communities should not be subjected to interference, except in circumstances when their behaviour is damaging to the environment or to society as a whole.
The `Golden Rule’ should apply to the relations between the communities and the wider society as it applies to the relations between individuals. Small communities must decide for themselves the degree of their participation within the larger organization of the society. This probably would be related to the degree of their self sufficiency.
The independence of small social units and communities is essential because they are the embryos of possible alternatives. This would allow the development of a variety of organisms, essential for the evolution of a pluralist democratic society.