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DEMOCRACY

The doctrine, born in Ancient Athens, making the numerical majority of an organized group take decisions binding the whole group. This idea opposes minority-rule, dictatorship, monarchism and imperialism. In Greece, only citizens were able to take seat in the Assembly of Citizens. The "archon" and his eight assistants were elected annually ...
 
Democracy is the political orientation of those who favour direct government by the people. Usually, this is watered-down to the rule of their elected representatives. In representative democracies, the "old" minority-rule prevails. In the old days and still today, practical problems made ideal democracy, namely ongoing referendum government, impossible. In the future, a system of world-government may empower every citizen of planet Earth to "take seat" in a permanent virtual world parliament ! Why not reward those who show global responsibility often ? Then democracy will no longer be "two-stepped", but truly a majority-rule. Of course, today, for all practical purposes, this must still go hand in hand with some kind of representative system. Due to our tribal nationalisms, a useless "class of politicians", together with all their trappings, remain in place and try to maintain office. As such, they hinder the advent of the Global Political System. For where bureaucracy wins over political vision, the course of spaceship Earth (Buckminsterfuller) remains uncertain.

Representational democracy is a political system in which the supreme power lies in citizens who can elect people to represent them. This flaw cannot be eliminated if (a) the masses are kept ignorant (hence the importance of free speech, free study and ongoing education) and (b) the infrastructure of global e-government is absent.

The greatest challenge for democracy is to make sure the political class in power is willing and able to implement decisive (and possibly unpopular) laws, and this irrespective of their possible reelection. Democracy without statemanship is plutocratic.