Posts Tagged ‘Working Democracy’
Does your vote count? Is voting a civic duty? They vote for what in Islamic States?
Posted by: adonis49 on: November 25, 2011
Does your vote count? Is voting a civic duty? They vote for what in Islamic States?
Do you know of any election won by a single vote? By a hundred votes?
How if you know that most elections are won by at least 20% margin, would you still go to the election booth?
If a survey claims that your favorite candidate is favored by 10,000 votes margin, would you still join the long line of voters?
Actually, what people say to poll takers are not what they will end up voting for: public image is different from personal inclination, and many candidates were surprised how they won by such a small margin when polls favored them by a huge margin…
If you are convinced that an election law is utterly biased and unfair either to the majority of the population or to the minorities, would you consider voting on the ground of civic duty?
For example, if the election laws are tailor-made to favor sectarian composition and you are a secular citizen, would you elected a sectarian candidates among the other sectarian candidates just so you think voting is a civic duty?
Do you think dropping a “blank” voting ballot would be construed as an opposition vote against the current political system or regime?
If only 30% of the eligible voters participated in the “democratic” process because the other 70% refused to take seriously enough the election laws or the programs of the candidates, would you consider the elected person representative of the population or just representing the political system?
What should be the rate of participation among the eligible voters for the process to be admitted as good enough democratic representation?
For example, Switzerland boasted to be a highly civic duty State by the high voting turnover rates for any kind of election. The tide has turned downward, as in many European States, and Switzerland initiated the mail-in ballot: Citizens automatically received a ballot in the mail, for all kinds of elections, under the hypothesis that this easy and comfortable incentive would jump up the voting rate…Mail-in ballot was a disastrous decision since even fewer voters felt any civic duty to vote.
It turned out that voters in small communities and in neighborhoods make the effort to go to voting booths in order to show off that they are citizens of good civic duty standards…Remove this social or community factor and any substantial financial incentives (bribes) and democracy will fizzle: Civic duty is meant to be seen and recognized by the community and not based on any abstract moral entity.
I recall a municipal election a couple of years ago. Three lists of candidates were vying to win and none of them ever contacted me, not even with a phone call. One list might have taken me for granted on a “clannish” or family ground. None of the lists were that serious and programs were disseminated a couple of days before election date, just to sounding serious…
I decided in retaliation to delay voting until an hour before closing time: I knew all candidates keep track of who has yet to show up. My best friend and cousin got upset because I didn’t vote yet, and called me and expressed his displeasure. Although I voted on “civic ground”, which didn’t help in patching up chattered friendship, I knew later that the right thing was not to vote at all. I got my revenge by publishing the event and venting out my anger on this Tarbouch, Ghenbaz and Sherwal election…Although, I doubt that anyone ever read my post…
Democracy needs to be constantly nurtured by civic engagement for equitable and fair election laws. tax laws, anti-discrimination laws, health and safety laws in the workplace… Once communities relinquish their responsibilities for active engagement, democracy becomes a huge farce and not a panacea for every social ill…
They vote for what in Islamic States? Particularly when religious parties grab power?
All Islamic political parties call themselves “party of Justice“. And I wonder: “Justice in the eyes of Allah or for other human being? Is Charia (religious laws) instituted by one man or by the community of citizens?
Is Justice valid for all times and all societies or justice tailor-made by communities as time changes and value changes…?”
Can you show me a single State, where an Islamic sect is in majority, an Islamic political party ever lost an election, once democratic election laws permitted voting?
For example, Iran, Turkey, now Tunisia, and soon Egypt…
Isn’t democracy the possibility of turning over power to opposition parties (secular parties in this instance)?
Does the concept of democracy has any meaning when laws are believed to be generated from a God?
Note: You may read on a working democracy https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/who-is-responsible-for-a-working-democratic-system/
Working Democracy: Valuing politics and respecting politicians
Posted by: adonis49 on: January 6, 2011
In a working democracy, with an adequate equitable election law, people elect local politicians that represent their interest, not based mainly on political programs but on how candidates are perceived as high-energy individuals, intelligent, good communicators, ready to work 24 hours a day, fielding calls and demands from the voters, and skilled in finding resolutions to pragmatic problems. Once a politician demonstrates that he is no longer interested in talking and meeting with people and is not spending time on the job of representing the community then, he is not elected, no matter how much money he spends on the campaign or enterprises back him.
A working democracy is not about the right of citizens voting at regular intervals for their representatives. An equitable election law that engage all citizens in “doing politics”, regardless of gender, race, working classes, and level of education, is a process that demonstrate the seriousness of the political system: The democratic system is initiating the citizens, early on in their life, to valuing politics in all the aspects of community associations and organizations, programs and policies.
A working democracy instructs citizens that social behaviors and communication are an integral part of doing politics. For example, when we engage in a private business we are doing politics: We have to communicate with clients and satisfy their requests, retain clients, respond to them in timely manner, and prove that we have a pragmatic decision-action tendencies. That is what politicians are expected to demonstrate in their job.
Doing politics is basic to all our actions and endeavors: Everything is politics and if we start giving “doing politics” bad connotations then, it means the political system has failed in doing a good job and representing a working democracy. As citizens start considering the word “politics” or working in politics as evil word and its citizens shun getting involved in the political process then, we should be sure that the system, on purpose, wanted its citizens to keep away from doing politics and letting the “representatives” thinking and deciding for them. When citizens are interested in entertainments and hate participating in the discussions of community programs or getting engaged in political parties then, you know that the democracy is failing to work properly.
In general, successful politicians are highly intelligent extrovert people, exhibiting high-energy types able to recharge when meeting with people and directing the conversations toward practical problem-solving and communicating honestly and humbly as if he is one of the audience, those who voted or did not vote for him. When a politician is compromised it should not be a basis for disrespecting all politicians: The kinds of pressures and incentives tendered to a politician by interest-lobbying associations are overwhelming. When a politician fails in his representation it means the constituents failed in supporting and encouraging him in his job: They let the lobbying parties sidetrack the interests of the community and fill the void.
Not every one can be a politician: This job requires many talents, energy, conversation and communication skills, quick-minded and a pragmatic-minded individuals. However, every citizens should be able to doing politics: That is the primary job of a citizen if a political system is to be functioning properly and society witness stability, equitable laws, and sustainable development.
A Working Democracy is expressed by valuing politics, doing politics, and respecting politicians. It has been a long time since democracies failed to functioning properly. Democracies have been transformed to oligarchies of the richest classes in return for “higher standard of living” at the expense of the people in the poorer States.
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