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In history, democracy was adopted for the first time from the
beginning of human been development, because it was stimulating
communication between individuals and freedom of thought. The ancient
Romans had a working democracy for the early part of their history. The
Forum in Rome is where political meetings and votes were held. The Forum
can still be seen today, but most of its buildings are in ruins.
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for them. The Founders preferred the term "republic" to "democracy"
because it described a system they generally preferred: the interests of the
peopled were represented by more knowledgeable or wealthier citizens who
were responsible to those that elected them. Today we tend to use the terms
"republic" and "democracy" interchangeably.
But some specialists are trying to open our eyes, following Churchills
opinion. At the beginning of his wonderful film The People Speak, Howard
Zinn tells us that Democracy does not come from the top, it comes from
the bottom. This insight from Zinn provides a key to our topicthe relation
between democracy and socialism, especially the socialism associated with
the outlook of Karl Marx. That is a lie! Yet one of the tragedies of the
twentieth century is that so many self-proclaimed partisans of socialism
plugged themselves into that lie, leaving rule by the people out of the
socialist equation. They defined socialism as government ownership and
control of the economy, and government planning for the benefit of the
people, who some day would be permitted to have a decisive say in the
decisions affecting their lives.
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To understand my point of view and the difference between socialism
and democracy, Im bringing to you the model of Vladimir Lenin. As the
leader of the Russian revolution in 1917, he established a communist
government that allowed no private property to exist. All members of society
were theoretically equal. However, Lenin considered a small "vanguard of the
revolution" necessary to guide the people and establish order. So a small
group of leaders make decisions in the name of the people, based on their
perceptions of what the people want and need.
However, democracy isnt quite the same in all the countries, because
every state has its own Constitution. Only the concept is similar. Foremost
amongst these is whether or not a democracy, by definition, can only be a
democracy if it can encompass those who would destroy it if they could and
give them a voice as well. There are for sure countries where democratic
laws are not applied or accepted. For example, there are millions, perhaps
tens of millions, of homosexual people who live in democracies where their
reasonable expectation of being able to love a person and to sexually
express that love is denied to them, usually together with any legal
recognition in almost all other areas of public life. Homosexuals in such a
situation would not count themselves as fully free, nor equal to the rest of
the population.
For sure there are some other examples that can obey the fact that
democracy is not freedom, but I understood the concepts that are
valuable. Lets say one of them is the worth of the Individual, because
democracy serves many of the different and distinct individuals that reside in
the governed land. Also equality of all persons, meaning that it does not
matter what race, gender, color, religion, an individual is. Each individual is
entitled to equal opportunity and equality before law. Regarding leadership,
probably majority rule and minority rights can easily define the will of the
people determined by popular vote meaning majority rules, but it does not
mean the majority is correct. Sometimes the minority is correct thus allowing
for democracy is a trial and error process. Necessity of compromise
represents the process in which democracy achieves majority or public
agreement rather than completely terminating an idea or thought. And
probably the most important for lots of people is the individual freedom,
where all individual are given individual freedom as long as it does not
interfere or harm the others, majority will.
Speaking about freedom, I believe that press and media are also
important in defining democracy! The right to freedom of speech as one of
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the basic human rights is enshrined in main international human rights
documents. Freedom of expression is the inseparable element of a
democratic society. Whether the society is democratic or not can be defined
by the factor of independent press and mass media. The most important
aspect of journalism is the checks and balances it provides. Without
journalism, important events, good or bad, would not have been exposed.
We live in a politically correct society. Freedom of the press is another aspect
which defines democracy.
So, opinions are pro and against. Democracy is seen by many eyes and
understood by many brains. So many types are judging by their own point of
view. But there as many ways that can describe democracy. It can be the
political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their
elected representatives; a political system in which the supreme power lies
in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them or the doctrine
that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions
binding on the whole group. My opinion is that democracy is what people
need, but as far as Ive observed, in our country the people are
misunderstanding the ways of democracy. Lets hope the future will bring
something new.