Reading 23 - DEMOCRATISM—Main Proposals

Page 1

We were taught these matters as definitional in our educations—democracy is a form of government, people must obey the law, you just have to sit there and force yourself to study. The effect, as we have seen even in our most recent history, is that our so-called democracy can get us to believe almost anything, including that what we see right before our eyes is not there and vice versa. We are told that America is the US, that the US flag is the American flag, that country means both society and national jurisdiction despite the name United States OF America, America as The People creating it, the US as a social tool serving the People. We are told that government is a body of laws and people who have rights under a constitution to pass laws that we must obey under threat of incarceration.

Democracy is not a form of government as we now understand that term. It is not even a form of self-government. Rather it is a process of social interaction and organization characterized by certain principles. But democratic self-determination, even in our individual cases, regarding our own psychologies, should strive toward self-expression, based on a consensual partnership of our different proclivities and abilities.

Establishing a political state and central government--one designed to govern society, not the other way around--is fundamentally incompatible with democracy. We can not be a self-determining society if a separate body of officials determines or governs us. . In a democracy, the highest official is the citizen. No one, certainly is more official, more legitimate as a “co-legislator of our joint fate.”

Also, representatives in government can act as public (social) servants, helping formulate policies or laws, gather funding for social programs that promote the general welfare, and assure that it is spent prudently. But if we choose even the most faithful representatives to go farther, to decide for us and do to us, we are not doing it ourselves. And so we have chosen against democracy.

Any democratic republic or government is an inherently undemocratic social tool, armed with coercive police powers to restrict, prohibit, punish, and regulate. It is designed to function where democracy has failed or fallen short. . Government protects and administers for democracy, it does not to establish or embody it.

A Republic is not a democracy. (Thomas Paine: “Society is everywhere a blessing; government is at best a necessary evil and at worst an intolerable.”) It should strive to become as de-centralized and localized as possible over time, compatible with coherent and efficient functioning.

Democracy does not require direct political participation in the legislative process, the setting of policies foreign and domestic. . But it does require our decision and our decision alone on what eventually is instituted. It requires that government officials only ask, request, and implement our ultimate will, not announce their will as our policy, our budget, not determine the direction of the nation or use their conscience and expertise to decide for us.

Government for democracy is government on demand, not government by consent. The People should express their will, government should implement it.