Democracy is the darndest thing
Winston Churchill was a sceptic of the people, seeing democratic processes as the least bad option. Sometimes it is easy to see why, with misinformation and wilful bending of facts justifying the worst excesses of the political process. Covid-19 has tested the mettle of many democratic processes, with many politicians falling back on old tropes and hand waving to see their nations through. It is also easy to see “the will of the people” as simple a bunch of turkeys being led to Christmas merrily along the way, as why else would they continuously vote against their own best interests?
The classic assumption is the older you get the more to the right you move, or rather, maybe your own personal views remain grounded but the Overton window shifts around you. Personally, I feel my politics shifting towards the socialised and the cynical. I see my country drifting into nationalism, small mindedness, and setting the underprivileged against each other for no other reason than to keep a self-serving set of politicians in power. If democracy is the will of the people, then surely after eleven years that will is abundantly clear.
If civil society is dying a death, indeed if there is no such thing as society, then why do we miss it so when those things are gone? Why not accept that you must pay for services free to prior generations, why not accept that you will have to retire at 70? Is it not true that we have no more space in these nations of ours? Shibboleths have a habit of masking a grain of truth, the nucleus of which is those in power cling desperately to their bank accounts and leavers of power, all the while asset stripping into offshore accounts. Yet democracy keeps them in power.
The opposite also funnels money into offshore accounts, leaving destitution and environmental decay in its wake. Autocracy is no friend of the people, no matter how much some may pine for a firmer hand on the tiller. If you think democracy fails you, you have a point, especially if you are a citizen shorn of your rights by the majority. Yet, even the most creaking democracy still allows room for freedom of self, and while the burdens are worse than before, there is always an opportunity to vote and remove the self-serving elite. Autocracies only exit is the barrel of a gun. Small mercies indeed.
Yes, I am cynical about democracy. Nearly forty years has shown me that scared and desperate people will vote for any fox that promises to keep the hen house safe. All the while those same foxes raid every other hen house and cut back on corn. Democracy only works when there is a strong opposition, when there is dissent and pushback, when the people critically engage with the system set over them. Yet, when it matters most media placate those in power, failing to hold politicians to account, all for the sake of ad revenue and yet most money shovelled into offshore accounts by corporate media owners. A media literate polity sees truth behind power, is willing to hold politicians to account for ill behaviour, and, yes, sees society as a must.
Even “fixing” the media problems we face in an atomised content world probably will not fix political literacy, as rabble rousing and easy answers to complex problems has been the age old preferred choice for most electorates. Turkeys never believe they will end up on the dinner plate, fervently assuming that they will be kept in the hay loft one more time. Cut benefits for the disabled, whip the transgender youth, leaving those Africans to drown in the ocean, just don’t come for me guv. Democracy is very much the will of the people, and those electoral choices will come back to haunt every last one of us.
Is there a solution to this? I desperately want to believe that media literacy will be enough. Indeed, getting people to see the truth and facts ought to be enough, surely? Yet, the truth is always multisided, always shades of grey, and no matter how objective we want to be this brittle, tarnished, beautiful thing we call democracy is as subjective as it comes. I have mine, and I will cling onto as long as the foxes will allow, for otherwise those darn dirty others will come steal it from me. Or not. That choice is ours. Democracy is the darndest thing, because while it brought in Trump and Johnson it also brought in Roosevelt and Biden. Not all things that glister are gold, but in an age where everything is uncertain, the one thing that can make a difference is holding those in power to account with our votes, our voices, and our activism. Democracy, who would live without it if they have a choice? Not me.
