..and not forgetting Ancient Athens as well as several European States in the 18th century including England.... (depending naturally on your definition of 'governing themselves'). Oh, and not forgetting the Vikings on the Isle of Man.... and erm....
8 comments:
Facts, schmacts, nobody needs to know the truth anymore!
It made me laugh ages ago when I heard that America was the worlds oldest *Democracy*.... Erm... EXCUSE me????
John Adams literally undertook a prolonged study of various historical and (then) contemporary republics to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and points of failure. The American experiment was the first attempt at representative democracy at the scale of the nation-state, as far as I know.
I do struggle with the idea of 'representative "democracy"' in that age when only a small percentage of people were actually being 'represented'. I'm guessing that around 20% or less could actually vote? Sounds neither representative nor democratic to me... [grin]
Plus, if that was the actually criteria that England fit too - from at least 100 years early after the Civil War. Sure, we were still a Monarchy but we'd moved from an absolute Monarchy to a constitutional one - where the Monarch could no longer dismiss Parliament at their whim. I don't know enough about other States in Europe but I'm guessing that at least a few were more Democratic than we were at that stage.
In my mind a Democracy needs to have as many people enfranchised as possible. So, no Democracy until after women got the vote (at least).
Democracy has achieved sacred cow status in the west -- we worship it not knowing what it is. What we think it is, what we want it to be, is governance by ourselves. What it actually is, at least in the case of DC, is two equally unsuited mobs of people being managed by media personalities and political organizations to vote this way or another -- knowing nothing of the issues beyond the propaganda tracts they hold in their hands -- fighting to see who can get enough meaty fingers at the polls to put The Guys We Want in charge of the government -- which at this point has institutionalized and has its own motives and desires, and for which the voting masses are just grist for the mill. We would laugh at the concept were we not acculturated to take it so Very Seriously. Think of the early American republic. Practically no one had the vote save for the very-landed gentry, but it didn't matter. People ran their own lives as they saw fit, the government a presence only in the case of courts, the military, and taxes. It was a genuine democracy, not because there were mobs voting, but because the people saw to their own affairs. I don't know that it's possible to reconcile the things people now expect of government with actual democracy, as that's the trade off. The more expected of the state, the more power it assumes and the less say people have in their own lives.
I think your country will be having a few 'teachable moments' coming up in '24. Firstly, just how many people value Democracy (or not) and then what a non-democratic organisation does when it gains/fails to gain political power through the democratic process. Whatever happens it'll be interesting to watch from THIS side of the pond!
We aren't even a democracy so I don't know what these dumb dumbs are ever talking about when they say we are the world's oldest democracy.
It always surprised me when there's a drive to get people to register to vote in the US. Registration here is both automatic and *compulsorily*! Periodically you get a letter through the post from the local council asking for the details of everyone over 18 in the house. Then this list is added to the Electoral role or amended as required. Then when election time comes around you get a voting card to show at the polling station. Seems pretty easy and straightforward to me....
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