Has democracy lost its utility?

Abdulai Mansaray: Sierra Leone Telegraph: 02 September 2024:

“A government by the people, of the people and for the people” has always been the most celebrated and simplest definition of DEMOCRACY. Conventional wisdom has it that the term derived from the Greek demokratia, and was coined from demos (people) and kratos (rule) in the middle of the 5th century BCE, to define the political systems that existed in Greek Cities like Athens.

The nascent form of democracy in Athens was seen as a “direct participation” where the people functioned as the state and government. It is therefore not surprising that western democracy tradition owes its origin from Greek, Roman and religious sources.

On the other hand, Republicanism was based on indirect participation that is exercised on behalf of the people. The above descriptions are loose, but will hopefully help us gauge the modus operandi that is being flaunted across the various political landscapes and highways of our societies today. Enough of the history lesson.

However, governments need fiscal co-existence for democracy to flourish. Such relationships have partly led to political-cum economic practices like Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, etc. In time honoured fashion, these political and economic chasms have resulted in Wars, coups, genocides, ethnic cleansing, cold wars and many more atrocities carried out in defence of and to promote these ideologies by their proponents.

Many see capitalism as not only the blueprint but also as the main artery of democratic societies. Sadly, these democracies are not only crumbling, but are being shredded by the very market economies (Capitalism) that were supposed to be symbiotic in their relationship with democracy.

So when some people describe “democratic capitalism” as the best concoction of society, you cannot help but see the oxymoronic value of such statements as “military intelligence”. Fallacy.

Proponents see Free Market Economies as a system that creates greater competition that can lead to lower prices for the consumer. Such greater competition does not only provide incentives for businesses to be efficient but also give freedom and choice to both businesses and consumers. But is that what is happening today? No.

Today, we see BIG BUSINESSES merging, devouring, swallowing and regurgitating lesser competitions with different names under the guise of branding. They buy up the small fry, dismantle, foreclose and discard them as financial nuisances. Unfortunately, because of the power these individuals and their conglomerates wield, governments have found themselves with limited power to regulate their abusive practices and monopolies.

This lack of government intervention has not only created the unimaginable income disparities, but has also helped to weaken the protection of the environment. Even though they represent only 21% of the global population, any surprises why the world’s wealth is owned by “The ONE PERCENT”? (Oxfarm-2023).

Now you know why your big companies have an alternative view of Global Warming. They call it a HOAX. Ask Trump and the petroleum industries. Now you know why the majority of those in the party that promotes “indirect participation that is exercised on behalf the people” forms the bulk of the Climate Change Deniers.

As a result of their enormous wealth and power, they call the shots, call the tune and politicians are required to dance to it. When a politician’s political life is oxygenated by the donations from the big guns, are we surprised at governments’ inability to rein them in and control them?

When someone’s election to power is bankrolled by the “ONE PERCENT; which is euphemistically and erroneously called “DONATION”, don’t you expect “the person who pays the piper to call the tune”?

Interestingly, that practice is called “BRIBERY” in places like Africa, and “DONATION” in the land of capitalism. The common man donates his little amount and expects the party to do good for the society.

When the mogul donates, it is an investment to buy up government policies, laws and favours. It is no wonder why some people see elections as sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

So, where is the media when you need one?

Many regard the media, The Fourth Estate to serve as the barometer of society and thermometer of public opinion. With the legislature, judiciary and executive branches of governments, the media fondly known as THE FOURTH ESTATE, is expected to provide the most powerful guardrail to hold governments to account and curb their excesses.

This is against the basic tenets of journalism to inform, educate, and entertain. Sadly, our mainstream media outlets have been divided into largely RIGHT WING and LEFT WING. And something added in between like “far”.

These terms mostly define the dichotomy, the chasm, the hatred, and ideologies of political parties today. We now see our media is devoid of any morals, decorum, and standards.

When you recall that former President Richard Nixon resigned for house breaking and larceny, while people like Trump continues to lie his way, among other felony crimes with perfect alacrity and zero accountability, you get an idea of how far society has morphed into decay. Do you think Nixon would have resigned with the kind of media we have today?

These days, if it doesn’t favour me, it’s FAKE NEWS. The room for alternative views keeps shrinking under the guise of free speech.

Society is now infested with TRUTH DECAY, as truth becomes the first casualty of the modus operandi, thanks to society’s reluctance and especially the media to seek, speak and stand for the truth.

With the diminishing propensity for the media to seek the truth, the truth in the media, if any is determined by the whims and wishes of their owners and proprietors. It depends on whether they are left or right hand drive on the political information highway.

In the last 30 years, media outlets and conglomerates have been hoovered up by single individuals or limited companies. Think of large media groups like Fox News, CNN or MSNBC, ABC, NBC etc. in the hands of one person or few individuals with specific ideological persuasions instead of large broad-based shareholders with various and differing political and ideological differences, Think of the crowded market in which the only thing that matters is the VIEWERSHIP.

Think of what it takes to attract, maintain and if not increase such viewership. You begin to get an idea of why controversy sells and truth becomes the most assaulted first component, while the media does the laundry jobs of the capitalists.

The jury is still out on the advent of the internet and social media. The impact on our society, whether good or bad is out there for all to see, and cannot be overemphasised.

Sadly, we are increasingly having social media platforms in the hands of single individuals. Think of Elon Musk who bought Twitter and baptised it X. He professed to buy it in defence of free speech, and is now masquerading as a king maker in a society that is DEEPLY DIVIDED along seismic political fissures. He even had the audacity to pretend to be a journalist and offer Trump a platform to promote his base instincts.

Some take comfort that these platforms have fact checkers, my foot. Who decides what to check and who checks the fact checkers? How do you rate these media houses when they have displayed their allegiances openly?

With printing, broadcasting, and digital media fighting over an already gridlocked information highway, controversy and falsehood have become the currency of our media sources.

We now have words like “fake news”, “disinformation”, “misinformation”, “alternative news” etc. Journalism has now been compressed into sponsored content, thanks to the “Influencers”.

All one has to do these days is dress economically and post controversial issues, topics and downright lies to feed the unconscious bias of a group of people and bang! You’ve made it.

Think of the riots in Southport, UK recently. You don’t need more than a single brain sell to become an influencer. We used to call it journalist. Facebook recently described me as a Digital Creator on my profile. I have no idea what that means (Gbankaya boy) and I don’t recall adding that to my profile.

People are now paid, as long as they have readership….sorry followers. I am not and I am not asking. The sheer joy of thinking aloud is enough for me…..for now. The saying, “don’t believe everything you read has never been more apt”.

With social media and Artificial Intelligence, Computer Generated Images, etc. all in tow, it is now a hazard of “don’t believe everything you see”.

With limited regulation from governments that have been bought and sold by these companies, it is very easy to see the risks and threats to societies today. A lot of people think that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy, and with good reason.

But is Donald Trump the REAL threat to democracy or those who provide the conduit for that threat to flourish? Don’t answer it, just take a moment to think that: “For evil to triumph, it takes the good to do nothing”.

Most media outlets see nothing wrong with assaulting the truth, as long as the chorus fits into their own hymn sheet. The truth becomes an expendable commodity that can be easily sacrificed on the altar of greed, ego and hatred.

What does this mean for Democracy?

The freedom to speak, free speech, the free press and many other phrases have been used to protect, promote, and defend one of the most fundamental bedrocks upon which democracy was founded and built.

Free speech is not just part of society’s instruments to calibrate the sanctity of democracy, but it is democracy. The First Amendment, the Right to Free Speech has become the most used, abused and misused in the America constitution.

So when Elon Musk said that he bought twitter to protect free speech, but asked for registration fees, you could tell that it had nothing to do with money and profit making. Just another regular Martin Luther King.

However, the CEO and founder of social media platform Telegram, Pavel Durov was arrested in France recently. Prosecutors say that he was detained as part of an investigation involving 12 criminal allegations , most of them related to “complicity” in serious crimes ranging from drug trafficking to the distribution of child sex abuse material”( Aljazeera,28 August, 2024).

Al Jazeera is questioning whether platforms should be held “responsible for the speech of others”? Aljazeera likens this to car companies which are “not considered responsible for drunk drivers or bank robbers”. So is the taxi driver giving a ride to the bank robber complicit?

But should platforms allow crime and especially involving children to be broadcast? According to Al Jazeera, Brazil’s Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes is threatening to ban Elon Musk’s X, unless he names a legal representative. Has the penny just started to drop?

The world is witnessing the gradual but inevitable disintegration of society, brick by brick. Political difference have been replaced by hatred and partisan antagonism.

If democracy is built on, among others, the FREEDOM OF SPEECH, how viable will democracy be if that freedom to speak is used to destroy and sow hate and division in the same society it is meant to protect and uphold? Should one man be allowed to decide what free speech is and what is not?

The fight for the hearts and minds of the people has literally become advance auction sale of stolen goods. The United States was built on division, from Christopher Columbus and right down to the Atlantic Slave Trade. But has the USA ever been so divided?

When Barack Obama became the first Non-White President of America for 8 years, it took Donald Trump and his nativists only 4 years to extinguish that zodiacal light of hope. When you look at the chasm in the American society today, you might be forgiven to laugh off “The United States of America” as an oxymoron of contradiction in terms.

Many around the world see American democracy as the paradigm for the rest of the world. The first duty in a democracy is voting, but what happens when that very process is undermined, vilified and discredited by the very people who profess to follow it.

What becomes of democracy when the very voting process is dishonoured even before a ballot is cast? During a speech about the potential loss of U.S auto manufacturing jobs in Michigan, Donald Trump said that if he isn’t elected, “it is going to be a bloodbath for the country” (Factcheck.org-march 18, 2024). Can you imagine the irony of American Democracy, which lends credence to the phrase: Only in America?

Trump has been found guilty of all 34 felony counts. Despite his conviction, the American brand of Democracy allows him to run for the highest office in the land, even though the prospect of serving jail time maintains.

The irony is that a convicted Trump can apply for the highest job in America with the possibility of The White House relocated behind steel girders (pipe dream) but an ordinary citizen might not get a job at Burger King, McDonalds, Walmart or Trump Tower for possessing, not supplying a gram of cannabis for his/her pain.

This can only happen in America. Following the unfortunate and regrettable assassination attempt on Trump’s life on July 13th, he proclaimed during one of his campaign stumps, “I took a bullet for democracy”. Which type of democracy?

Is it the same democratic process that he threatened, “it is going to be a bloodbath for the country” if he isn’t elected? One of the most over quoted amendments in the American constitution is, “the right to free speech”. Perhaps Americans should also amend that amendment with the right to remain stupid.

Is America in a constipated realm of the crazy normal?

If American democracy is to be seen as a paradigm to the world, what is its message to the world? That justice can wait for one man? If Trump’s nativist attack on Barack Obama was nauseating, look at what has been going on recently.

Kamala Harris is black, or “becoming black” (says Trump). As if not enough, she is a woman, who has the audacity to challenge Donald Trump. With his long history of misogyny becoming the new political normal, Harris recently asked “next question” when asked about his recent attacks.

His insults at Harris are not new. This is the man who boasted of grabbing a part of women’s anatomy in Access Hollywood, 2005. He insulted Fox News Channel anchor Megan Kelly in 2005, was found liable for sexual assault on E. Jean Carrol, and over 25 women made similar accusations against him since the 1970s.

According to The Guardian (1st July 2023,), in a book by Miles Taylor, “Blowback: A Warning to Save America from the Next Trump”, reports from Trump’s “Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump’s breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her”.

Remember when Trump once told Howard Stein in 2003, that if Ivanka was not his daughter, “perhaps (he’d) be dating her? Where else on earth would such a person be allowed to go near any administrative office without accountability? Where else would such a person not be on some form of register? ONLY IN AMERICA.

When H.L. Mencken said that “democracy is the pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance”, was he only joking? “These days, common sense, common honesty and common decency makes one ineligible for public office.
Kingdoms and empires have come and gone.

Is America in the realm of the last days of Pompeii? Democracy used to be a good thing but has it now gotten into the wrong hands? Thomas Jefferson in 1816 once said that “The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when the government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations”. Was this prediction made on “the ides of March”?

When democracy dies, Capitalism should be charged with first degree murder.
Is Trump the greatest threat to American Democracy or those who provide the conduit?

Don’t forget to turn the lights out when you leave the room.