Democracy

On doit des egards aux vivants; on ne doit aux morts que la verite.

-Voltaire

Whenever a choice presents itself, whether in partisan politics or in mundane situations such as friends or family deciding where to have lunch, the well-intentioned practice is to 'put it to a vote' (and we know where good intentions lead). Like a rockstar, or a demi-god, democracy has become more popular than consensus - if by popular you mean 'conveniently palatable' - as easy as it is sloppy and as insidious as it is unnaccountable. As I consider the hundreds of millions of human lives destroyed just in the last half century in the name of spreading democracy, a requiem seems not only appropriate but overdue.

The three most popular assumptions that I hear about the theory of democracy are that

• to vote is to exercise freedom, because 
• only free people may vote - in short, freedom and voting are the same - and therefore,
• since freedom is moral (relative to slavery, for instance, which is immoral), to vote is also moral. 

A good slang translation might be "people power", which almost has a humane ring to it ... until you imagine a great engine running on human fuel. At those times, most folks will defensively admit that democracy is flawed (although not how or why), but that if only we had something called "true democracy", then we would also have widespread opportunity, social justice and whatever else can be promised or imagined - the problem, they insist (without quite noticing it), is not the theory, but "the people".

If you accept the hieratic notion that "the people" need to be ruled, then you can see how democracy is the opposite of freedom.

At an individual level, democracy is simply wishful thinking, and seems harmless enough. Voters (a group that never includes me) almost universally subsist on three fundamental assumptions of their own. These alone almost argue for licensing the vote:

• I know what is right and good for me
• I know what is right and good for others
• I can be relied upon to want what is right and good

You may have noticed that voters do not necessarily assume as much of their fellows, often the reverse. With all due respect (and not an ounce more), even a cursory glance at the average voter would disqualify them by any sane and moral reckoning. Nobody who eats junk food, smokes, spanks their children or supports any war anywhere could abide by these simple metrics.

Democracy (Greek -demokratia) is a compound noun derived from -demos ("commoners") and -kratos ("might"). The concept of "the people" is not germane to democracy and, what is more important, neither is respect for self-ownership. Rather, the relevant origin, demotic (-demotikos), "of or for the common people" (literally the "district" via the Proto Indo-European root -damo, "division"), refers to "the commons" themselves and not to human beings.

Like nearly every other flourishing social invention, democracy exists not in spite of the rulers but to serve their interest.

There are no grassroots movements - for though there is a more savory word for the opposite of freedom, it is politically incorrect and a bit too close to demotic for comfort. The antonym is hieratic (-hieratikos, "of or for the priesthood"), another tool of the archons suggesting that democracy even today is merely a secular religion and propaganda, its gospel. Evidence abounds - from euphoria and catharsis (c.f. Adolf Hitler, Barack Obama) to human sacrifice (democide has surpassed war as the leading cause of non-natural death).

The message is designed to promote 'buy-in' by offering a combination of choice and common purpose.

Of course there will never be a clean election where real power (-kratos) is at stake. Thus the same folks who justify voting and elections with platitudes like, "I want to have a voice ..." or "The people deserve to be heard," hate me for asking, "How useful is it to exercise your voice at the same time as everyone else - who, exactly, is your audience - why do you want to be ruled?" Don't get me wrong: I am not one to complain that democracy doesn't work - on the contrary, it is the best propaganda tool ever invented, capable of spreading and legitimizing the biggest lies (such as "majority confers morality").

The truest vision I ever did see of democracy in action was in Oakland CA, where a score of 'activists' in a crowd of thousands, surrounded and surveyed by hundreds of paramilitary police and a few odd news helicopters, banging on the upturned underside of five-gallon paint buckets as they marched in circles, chanted "This is what democracy looks like" until the spell wore off - as a direct observer, I will only say that nothing tangible or good was produced by these people, and at great cost.

All this may raise uncomfortable questions about how or even why to vote, or how to 'fix the system' and so on, which may not be relevant nor my intention to answer, per se. Neither intending to judge others nor to speak for any group, I admit that I prefer freedom over slavery, come hell or high water. Since I advocate for truth, I feel compelled never to use the word democracy unless I mean "Mob Rule".

Just as the religion of democracy was invented in Greece, so it is practiced there today in its purest form.

T H I S   I S   W H A T   D E M O C R A C Y   L O O K S   L I K E  ! ! !

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