Britain a democracy? Is that a serious question?

One of the fundamental problems with our modern Britain is that we have lost all understanding of the concept of democracy. Throughout its history Britain has been little more than a pale reflection of a democratic nation,  but even in its periodic attempts to reflect democratic principles it could not bear to shake off its class and privileged nature and whenever it had the opportunity, it ruthlessly removed as many democratic gains that it could. If Britain ever had a claim to be democratic, it certainly ceased to be a democratic nation many years ago, and that is one of the reasons that Westminster and all its personnel are so paranoid about the Scots, because Scotland is in danger of rediscovering democracy and insisting that its principles are respected.

Democracy is much more than simply allowing for one person one vote. Most tyrannical regimes in the world not only provide everyone with a vote, but insist that they use it. The problem is that they also control it. When you begin to consider the fundamentals of political life you are faced with  some dilemmas that are uncomfortable for politicians who desire that the general public assume that they are actually different from the rest of us and should be in the positions they are in because they deserve to be. For example, in terms of fundamental rights, are we really all born equal? The answer is obviously yes. There are no class, race, wealth etc. distinctions in the birth process. All human beings come into the world exactly the same way and by the same process. Differences only emerge after birth and they are all socially conditioned. Thus, no-one is born with an essential right over anyone else. In addition, once in the world we are all totally dependent and must be cared for and nurtured else we will not last more than a few hours. A result of this basic fact is that all distinctions of wealth, class, race, etc are socially determined and are most certainly not natural. The extent to which these distinctions are apparent in any society is the result of the decisions that are taken within that society, and that is where politics enters into the equation.

The great Athenian statesman Pericles said that the distinction between Greeks and barbarians was that the Greeks were not ruled by people, but by law. That is an essential component of a democratic system and is a reflection that all people are equal because the law is supposed to be blind to all social distinctions between people. However, for democracy to work, law is necessarily just and not biased towards any group, class or sector. Only a moments reflection tells us that Britain is findamentally failing in all those respects. It is naive to assume that lawmakers must always be totally impartial, but they must at least be seen to be trying. In Britain we do not even make the attempt. Thus, democracy and a fair and just society is dependent on such fundamentals as who makes the law, how the lawmakers are chosen or appointed, how representative of the society are they and how accountable are they to the rest of society? The same principles must also apply to those who are tasked with administrating the law. I will explore these themes in future posts.

Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat.