By Muzomuhle Ntombie and Mellisa Piosi
WHEN looking at democracy we think, democracy is a form of governance where the people, or the populace as a whole, has the authority to make laws, however, democracy is a lie, we are fed. It is an illusion of choice planted in us to give us a sense that we have some kind of freedom of choice in a world where there is no freedom at all.
There is a need to debunk the lunacy of the idea that we live in a democratic society and the idea that we have a say in anything related to the betterment of our lives as a nation. Some factors enable us to pursue our choices that is if we are making our own choices. A choice is to make a decision when faced with two or more possibilities therefore it is derived from a source however there are underlying intangible forces that propel making a decision.
Democracy supports the idea that the people can replace their government through peaceful transfers of power rather than violent uprising, thus the key part of democracy is that people have a voice, however, that is not the case as the people do not have an active say in decision-making. One man one vote does not necessarily process any particular collective wisdom and there is a danger of trial by plebiscite as the will of the people is no guarantee of good law or policy.
A democracy functions such that governments are legitimized by elections that are free and fair but do not change the state’s policies and goals. The government controls elections so that the people can exercise all their rights without truly changing public policy under the government. Therefore it does not give allowance to anything that can give us the people any real power to make a change.
There’s a large misconception of democracy as it has been misunderstood. Democracy is not just about voting in elections, constitutional norms, and institutions, even though that’s important. Democracy requires much more. Democracy cannot persist in a society that has too much economic inequality. So what is essential to democracy is an economic democracy; a measure of economic equality, no one having too much power. Democracy requires us to determine our destiny together without the rich oppressing the poor, the masses overthrowing the rich and not having a society becoming deeply divided by race, religion, tribe, or ideology as it becomes difficult to sustain as the division aims to oppose futures.
At the same time, neither economic democracy nor social solidarity is going to be possible without having political democracy a government that is responsive and representative of the people but we do not have that today either. The government is primarily responsive to the wealthy and interest groups, not to the ordinary people, and thus removes the concept of democracy. The core challenge therefore becomes that we never truly achieved what democracy requires. Segregation could never bring about equality, let alone solidarity. Currently, there is an emphasis on individuals over the community’s division by race, class, and culture, and preferred markets over democracy it looks away as the wealthy people and corporations increasingly rigged governments to serve their interests, even at the expense of others.
Adding more to that it would make more sense to say in a society that only the ones that possess the knowledge necessary to choose a leader are seen as the uninformed populace who are susceptible to manipulation by those with ill intent. What is evident are the people who are in power who have no intention of being a leader but their only intention is to fatten their wallet have managed to sway the masses to vote for them. We elect representatives who we believe are perhaps more informed to make decisions on matters of policy however we cannot verify our representatives on the matter of their policies because politics is now too tainted and corrupt by cronyism which is the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority without any proper regards to their qualifications. A reason for this can be that governments and businesses are far too closely aligned because of lobbying. This is political persuasion.
It then comes down to whether Can citizens achieve basic knowledge of public affairs and then make reasonable choices about what to do. This is a no as there is a gap that exposes democracy in the light of what it is said to be and what we know about how human beings behave.
The sate uses propaganda techniques to prevent the electorate from having any significant impact on policy. The public is barred from managing their affairs and the means of information is kept narrowly rigidly controlled. Therefore, it is not farfetched to say we are spectators in democracy and not participants we are just fed the illusion that we are participants. The state’s use of propaganda techniques prevents the electorate from having a specific impact on policy. The power to make significant change is little to none because it seems that the majority are viewed as spectators not participants, they have freedom of choice however it is taken away from them through vote tampering.
The main control tactics that are used to control and propagate the masses within a democracy are fear, slogans, selective perception creating division, and the public illusion of separate parties this is done to intimidate and cower in fear which will keep them diverted and controlled. Most democracies fabricate meaningless slogans which do not mean anything and are pointless. Its critical value is that it diverts your attention and gives a selective perception. Fake news controls political speech democracy can flourish if people are well informed. This means they are unable to put current affairs into context through knowledge. Thus they do not carry the tools to think and understand logically the issues presented before them. There’s the presentation of a false dilemma thus missing out on all the other important alternatives this therefore creates divisions and influences of the general population while keeping control of the political spectrum
Therefore, in conclusion, the government by the people for the people as a legitimate and sound way in which to improve people’s lives and their outcomes both economically and in terms of human development can be said to not have reached its potential as even countries that are nominally considered democratic did not completely rise to the occasion.
These ailing democracies are brought about by the failures that have been delivered and it is due to who leads our democracies and not what type of governments we are led by as those leaders are unable to underpin everything they do with ethics and accountability. The belief that satisfaction of individual desires is of the highest importance dominates our society and infiltrates our politics. As long as we are self-indulgent in the instant gratification of feeding our desires and living in blissful ignorance there will always be a missing piece to democracy, democratization, and the power of elections.
Muzomuhle Ntombie and Mellisa Piosi are dedicated scholars pursuing their studies in International Relations and Diplomacy at Africa University. With a keen interest in political systems and governance, they have delved into a compelling exploration of the concept of democracy in their research, aiming to unveil the intricate layers of what may be perceived as an illusion of choice within democratic processes. They write in their personal capacity.