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Dont get me wrong! I thoroughly love American democracy and the abundant freedoms that it allows me to enjoy. I can be creative, individualistic, entrepreneurial, and I can unequivocally believe in my interpretation and practice of American free enterprise. American democracy allows me to be expressive and critical of politicians positions on various issues and simultaneously pretend being intellectual without any palpable fear of government reprisal. I can publish fiction and non-fiction books and expound on my diverse opinions with impunity.
I truly appreciate and value what my guaranteed liberties personally mean to me. But outside of myself and outside my interests and needs I am genuinely suspect of the functioning of democracy in a contemporary mass society. Let me explain and elaborate. American politicians want me to believe that democracy is the greatest thing going since the creation of oxygen and food but I know from history that the concept of modern democracy did have its origin in ancient Greece and not in 1776 Philadelphia. The more celebrated Greek philosophers in the midst of their great polemics heaped ample criticism on democracy as an honorable system of government (let alone even contemplating the notion of verbally attacking democracy as a viable form of education as we now practice in the USA). In the Athens of Socrates and Pericles, the Golden Age citadel of pure democracy, the esteemed philosopher Plato described democracy as in every way weak and unable to do either great good or great evil for civilization.
According to venerable Plato, The will of the people is the worst of all lawful governments and the best of all lawless ones! In other words democracy represents a median fluctuating in a twilight zone somewhere between great and poor. Plato believed that a Republic was indeed the best form of government as stated in his work The Republic. A democracy would be doomed to eventually gravitating towards mediocrity, and after examining what democracy has been doing to our bureaucrats in Washington DC and to our civilization and culture, what it has done in our public schools, in the family unit and to society in general, Plato's remarkable assessment was not far off the mark. The central problem with costly American democracy (both in government and in the local public schools) is that our society's problems and weaknesses are allowed to thrive and proliferate unabated at the conscientious taxpayers expense.
Anyone that has avidly studied history realizes that Republics like the Roman Empire could last for millennia but democracies are usually short-lived. Plato's strong timeless argument seems credible even today when weighing into consideration issues like social welfare, unemployment, crime, drug abuse, individual irresponsibility as a human choice (freedom to choose) and the weaknesses of politicians in Congress and bureaucrats sitting on local boards of education dispensing important and essential educational directives in every community in this great Republic. In many respects democracy is the antithesis of the stability permitted by a prosperous capitalistic Republic. It is our free enterprise economic system that gives America stability and not so much our democratic government and education systems.
Plato wasnt the only brilliant ancient-times mind that had doubts about the viability of democracy as an effective and efficient form of government. Other brilliant Athenians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Aristotle and Demosthenes distrusted the ugly problems that a democratic government (without a Republics strong laws) might generate. Freedom for everybody usually means waste, expense and attendant social disorganization, especially when the more industrious citizens must always do more work to help, provide for and assist the ever-existent slackers. Thats an inherent curse of democracy. Good industrious people must care for, feed, produce for and clothe those that lack self-motivation and those that eschew the spirit of free enterprise.
It has been the American Republics traditional idea of respect for law and order that has constructively contributed to national stability throughout our countrys two-century plus history and not the democratic principle of pursuing absolute freedom (anarchy) for the masses, many of whom depend on government assistance for sustenance. And when our U. S. public schools pursue and champion student democratic freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, another earthquake has shaken the foundation of our great American Republic when education mimics the role and function of our inefficient American government. Freedom without respect for authority (parents, teachers, policemen, judges, the law) eventually means chaos, turmoil and cultural disintegration, and as long as militant left-wing reformers and nave educational psychologists give more democratic freedom to criminals and students to defiantly misbehave and then simultaneously transfer (steal) authority away from teachers and policemen, public school education and American society will continue to decay, crumble and rot from the inside out. And as long as our American democracy promotes absolute freedom for all of its citizens the United States is undeniably heading down the road to socialism and ultimately on a course with anarchy and chaos should a national catastrophe such as a nuclear war or a massive depression occur.
It is the idea of having a free enterprise system and an American Republic (respect for law and order and valuing the existence of others) that keeps the USA strong and independent and not the notion of us being a contemporary democracy (championing the expansion of individual rights). The basic difficulty with American democracy is that it tolerates and attempts to mitigate all aspects of negative human nature. Criminals, murderers, thieves, drug addicts and dealers, sex offenders, prostitutes and other types of immoral and / or irresponsible people are given the same equal rights as contributors, honorable individuals, volunteers, law-abiding folks and societal benefactors. Totally dysfunctional people (citizens) are thoroughly protected under the mantle of Constitutional rights and allowed to flourish and practice their negative influences on civilization while these same pernicious social predators are generally shielded and protected by laws and avaricious lawyers under the guise of the First Ten Amendments. In our American democracy the First Ten Amendments are given the power to undermine the teachings of the Ten Commandments, thus destabilizing the foundations of an altruistic Republic.
Unless necessary countermeasures are soon adopted and employed this fundamental hypocrisy of a surplus of democracy weakening our venerable Republic will eventually initiate the decline and fall of the highly envied American way of life. And Im sad to report that there are no demanding qualifications for becoming a United States citizen if someone is coincidentally born in this blessed country. Being born in America should not be the only criterion for citizenship, but in the past and also currently in the present it is. First of all a good citizen must be literate and know how to read and write with a degree of fluency and skill. Secondly, a good citizen must know essential knowledge about our nations history, about its admirable free enterprise capitalistic system of economics and also comprehend pertinent ideas relative to American culture. These cited principles contribute to the cohesiveness of our American civilization but presently they are not requirements for a native-born individual obtaining citizenship.
A person born in the United States should not be eligible for citizenship until he or she graduates high school and demonstrates a mastery of reading, writing, U. S. history and fundamental cultural knowledge. Then after exhibiting those essential educational skills an eighteen-year-old should then qualify for taking an obligatory test to certify his or her right to receive citizenship and voting privileges.
Voting and citizenship should be earned privileges and should not be assumed rights conferred upon potentially irresponsible people at birth. As it now stands immigrants studying to be United States citizens often know more about U. S. history than many unworthy citizens that acquired that particular designation simply by fortunately being born in the United States of America.
Another very evident weakness of American democracy is the fact that on the average only 40 % to 50 % of the eligible population votes in national, state and local elections. This deficiency is both disgraceful and problematic. Those that do not actively participate in democracy should be excluded from citizenship and from voting. American democracy is based on several suspect premises: that man is good and that he can be trusted and that he or she cares abut himself or herself and about his or her world. Conversely a Communist society believes that man is evil and therefore must be controlled. The ideal civilization and / or most satisfactory government would be a Republic where people have earned privileges and can maintain them through the exercise of honorable public goals and behaviors.
In other words what we now understand as rights would be privileges that could be earned but also that could be lost or taken away because of illicit and / or immoral conduct. Illegal drug usage, abuse of self and others, criminal behavior warranting incarceration and general contempt toward other human beings represented in hurting or harming ones fellow man would automatically result in the termination of citizenship. Just like actions generate good and bad consequences, so too should inaction. What is the sense of being a legitimate U. S. citizen if illegal aliens and non-citizens have the exact same rights as you do?
The best solution to the ongoing democracy dilemma would be to create and maintain a society based on acquired or lost privileges rather than one heralding equal permanent rights for everyone, whether they be responsible or irresponsible individuals, criminals or ethical citizens. Our Founding Fathers were moral men whose model public conduct and independent spirit are deserving of our imitation. That philosophy should be characteristic of our laws and practices. I firmly believe that all American citizens should be required and expected to fulfill much-needed roles promoting community and societal stability through volunteerism. Every adult man and woman should be required to belong to service clubs like the Lions, the Kiwanis, the Rotary and the Exchange. As worthy alternatives a good citizen could be involved in their church, in public charities, in the local volunteer fire department or rescue squad, be a hospital volunteer, become a Big Brother or Big Sister or serve as a Little League coach.
In the newly conceived privilege-oriented democracy/Republic, no healthy able-bodied person that also desires maintaining his or her citizen status gets a free pass. Every citizen (or citizen wanna be) would be required to give something back to society by loyally adhering to a form of volunteerism. Every citizen ought to be proactive in taking a vital interest in the continuation of the nations culture. The present rights-oriented democracy for all does not make any mandatory demands on its population, particularly on its indolent and unmotivated citizens. As a result apathy has become the watchword for all-too-many freeloaders. Another glaring disadvantage of American democracy is that elected politicians are increasingly beholding to their constituencies.
In many instances pressure groups, special interest influences and ethnic minority factions constitute real obstacles to objective and effective governmental decision-making. Elected officials will instinctively openly placate and pander to these special interest groups to garner votes and support, and soon criminals, child molesters, reparations advocates, those that broadcast sexual innuendo garbage over the airwaves, illegal Mexican aliens obtaining amn...
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