What is the role of the average citizen in a dying democracy?

Question

There are loads of activists groups that each have their own little niche when it comes to making noise to the government about issues they oppose. I'm thinking, war, killing in our name, ID cards, data tapping, whatever it may be, our efforts fail to change the outcome so why do we bother, i think people want to do something but only find certain ways to get involved that include protesting, petitioning and boycotting, but what about facing up to the reality that our government no longer serves the people and has become a corrupt arena of corporate interests with high fying spin doctors who put a human face to the tragedy of our time but actually are so far detached from it that it will never be in their interests to change tack.

Its complicated, i just think there is a time and a place for people to start getting off their backsides and doing something, creating something new, from below, like the Zapatistas or free states all over the world. Could we start again here in England

It seems people are deluded in thinking that we actually live in democracy.

Couple of questions for those individuals:
Do you really believe elections to be free and representative of the range of human ideals that exisit in multicultural societies...AND
If democracy is supposed to reflect the views of the average citizen, are we all War criminals?

And by the way i never said revolt, or shed blood, and our Parliamentary system just made it impossible for anyone to speak out against our government without prior notice (of one month) from the police...and many acts get passed within one month so that leaves no time for people to respond or even try and make other people aware without breaking the SOCPA! Is this democracy? I merely alluded to the possibility of intelligent, human beings undermining the present, ineffective, 'troubled', murderous and totalitarian regime byt creating local democracy, that actually works, like that of the Zapatistas.

Globalisalisation is doomed

People, please read up about the Zapatistas before painting them with the same brush as all the other hierarchical systems of government that have existed before.

I really want to hear from the people whose minds are open enough to the idea of completely underwriting what we know to be 'goverment'. I have heard of some bylaws that provide for townships to create local vestuaries but i fear ignorance and dogmatism as well as the effects of centuries of propoganda and indoctrination will prevent anything like this working en masse, but if some like-minded revolutionary types could provide a model in the UK, much like that of the Zapatistas, where everyone is consulted, everyone involved, the community becomes completely self-sustaining and we recover from the scars left behind from advanced globalisation which is further plummeting our existence into oblivion in so many senses!

How do we combat the disillusionment that prevents people from even conceiving of more autonomy?

Answer 1

the average citizen is ignorant and doesn't know or care that our democracy is seriously at risk. sad but true.

Answer 2

Revolution is - and always has been - the only answer, or so it would it appear. But revolution demands an educated elite who are all too willing to sell out their intellectual 'inferiors'. This is inevitable, as it is human nature for the 'superior' to exploit the 'inferior'. Look at the Soviet Union...the Zapatistas... the Khmer Rouge.

In the UK we have the opportunity to vote out a Government every four / five years, and the chance to 'inflict them with a bloody nose' every couple of years at local elections. It is not much of an opportunity, but those people responsible for UK's involvement in the Iraq war, for example, are those people who voted Labour at the last election. It is only those people who did not who can complain. If something is not mentioned in the manifesto; fine. But it is the responsibility of those who voted for the ruling party to be accountable for their (the ruling party's) actions. I did not vote, so am happily in the position of being able to distant myself from their decisions.

Re ID cards, this was in their manifesto. If the majority had been opposed to it - or had not voted on merely unthought-through past political allegiance - they might have been voted out of office. We then have the dilemma of who to vote for.

The bizarre thing about the last election is that 79 - 80 % of people thought that the result was a good thing. In an ideal world the percentage would be a direct reversal of the results.

Answer 3

Definitely there is a need for action. The government has become a conglomeration of corporate minded individuals who run the government like a corporation. It's no longer government of the people, for the people, by the people but merely a loophole for the wealthy to create laws that increase their wealth. That is why they have it set up where they retire with full pay for life, what a deal! They bleed the people dry with taxes so as to fund their privileged lives. They consider themselves "Royalty". Unfortunately people have become complacent with their piddly amenities like housing and automobiles, TVs and Pools, etc. The younger generation is asleep with video games and doesn't have a clue as to what is going on in government. My guess is that anyone who makes a big enough stink will be conveniently assassinated so no one really wants to take on the government.

Answer 4

Election 2006: Change the balance of power in Washington.

If you don't like what's going on, write letters to your congress
people, support groups you agree with and motivate others
(sort of what you are doing).

Most importantly, vote in November.

However, I think this government can be saved without a coup
using standard techniques: Elect people we like (or at least like
better than the people there now).

Yes, there are some fundamental changes I would like
to see to the US Constitution (having nothing to do with Gay
marriage, I assure you), but its a pretty awesome starting point.

I would not try to create a new government (which takes
decades to become stable) if I thought the problems could
be taken care of by the normal processes of election.

By the way, I'm not so sure I would say that the democracy
is dying. Its troubled, for sure - big money continues to
have more effect than our founders surely wanted.

However, nobody has fired on Ft. Sumpter today, have they?

Answer 5

The average citizen's role is to provide financing for above said activities. Mature democracies typically have a precedent legal structure so complex and convoluted that personal freedoms cease to exist. The same can be said for most of Europe and the US.

Many a social observer has pointed out what happens as democracies mature, from Alexis de Tocqueville to Winston Churchill to Frank Zappa, and all hinge around the same theme - once the general public learns it can enrich itself from the public largesse, freedom is lost.

Don't you feel, deep in your heart, that you are more a slave than a free person? You must pay high taxes on your income, you must pay excise taxes on your energy and telecommunications services, you must pay sales taxes and VAT, you must support (insert any cause-du-jour here). As to your choices; they're mostly limited to what TV show you watch.

Welcome to life in the early 3rd millenia.

Answer 6

authentic Democracy must be astonishing if we were extra knowledgeable and weren't compelled to %. Republican or Democrat. i'm a Centralist and get easily no representation. it is a load of crap. Democracy is a recreation now. One social gathering votes for a bill and the different votes adversarial to the bill. like the well being care bill. maximum democrats voted for it and maximum republicans voted adversarial to it. practise in politics is needed, in a classification called Civics or authorities. in spite of the undeniable fact that, there are idiots who do not even care about college. those children who're chuffed at the same time as they get a D- in a classification. authentic Democracy ought to under no circumstances artwork as long as those human beings exist. also, those human beings are an same reason Conservatism would not continually artwork properly. the problem below is a mini rant about how liberals take care of the idiots that do not try. frequently the version between Conservatism and Liberalism is that Conservatives imagine the authorities might want to be all for hardship-free words in moral subject matters, like abortion, and nationwide issues, like corrupt businesses or warfare. Liberals believe authorities should not be all for moral subject matters and in the different case might want to be in contact as a lot as accessible to create safe practices nets for human beings (aka the idiots))

Answer 7

I supose the average citizen feels as powerless as I do.
I have personally rebeled by not voting, im 30 now and have never voted in my life! I am well aware that despite the varying parties I have a choice of only conservative and labour realasticaly and as someone ellse rightly said, new labour may as well be called alternative conservative!
Also The average person is far to caught up in capatalism to do anything about it. We are so dependent on electronic and throw away consumables that nothings gonna change that.

Answer 8

Revolt? That's pretty dark man. I think that it's best to work within the system that already exists. Sure, it doesn't serve us, but we can make it work. Your other options might be to retreat to some kind of commune and grow everything for yourself- I think there are some places out there which do that in a self supporting fashion... I'll come back to this later on...

Answer 9

I think the role of the average British (i dont see the separate nations , i see the whole) citizen is to defend our shared values, our Parliamentary system which is still one of the worlds finest, and to demand change from oru politicians.

Our Democracy is at threat, but only because we have allowed it. Market Capitalism, in the form of Globalised TNC'S, has forced politics to become a middle-ground bloodbath, with neither political extreme havign any chance to survive. We're now just stuck with the likes of a right-wing Labour and a Right-wing Conservatives, despite chameleon daves best attempts to deny it

Answer 10

The Zapatistas? why on Earth would you want to emulate them.

This is the age of globalism, the global supply chain and international assembly line.

Hooray for our multi-national overlords!

Answer 11

Do your duty before asking for the rights, and dont violate the laws.