Democracy?

The old Greek invented democracy apparently. There were a few earlier approaches but the Greeks became popular for making it real at the end of the day. But even their approach seems to be a bit odd in the way we look at democracy today. Women, slaves and foreigners had no voice at all. Did the point of view changed over the time?

I was born in a country which government called them-self democratic, the GDR: German Democratic Republic, better known as East Germany. We had elections every few years where we elected the public representation of our country. Well, almost: People were forced to elect, there was your name on the ballot and yes, there was the possibility of an impact if you didn't elect the 'right' party. But it was no problem anyway because more than 99% of the people were participating elections and more than 99% of these ticked the 'right' box. It was very handy because there was no disturbing opposition neither did the press ever discovered something which wasn't in line with the officials.

The GDR is not the only country which had the word democracy in its name while the reality was very far from it: we have the 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea' these days or also known as North Korea. Another example is the 'Republic of Turkmenistan', lead by the country's only party 'Democratic Party of Turkmenistan'. So the term democracy is used in dictatorships sometimes pretending to be a democracy.

So what does democracy actually mean in a timeless manner? Wikipedia says: "Even though there is no specific, universally accepted definition of 'democracy', there are two principles that defines the word democracy. They include: equality and freedom." So here we go. These two terms sound like something good indeed. No, hold on. Equality and freedom? Aren't these two relative terms?

Equality? I mean ... are you actually serious? If that is what democracy means than I have to say that the whole East - European block - before 1989 - was far more democratic than every country since. Everybody I knew from East Germany was earning the same money, everybody had the same education and everybody was wearing the same colors at the 1st of May. Forgot sake, we had all even the same kind of plates in our cupboards and the same curtains in front of our windows because they sold just this only kind of plates and curtains. We were EQUAL! I'm also convinced that the people in North Korea live under very equal conditions these days. But there is no democracy.
The country with the biggest inequality is Brazil these days. You have Indians living in the jungle and also districts which are reign in an old feudalistic way while other parts of the country are so modern that half of Europe would be happy to reach this kind of standard. And the inequality between the peoples education, their supply of money and even their aims for the future couldn't be more different. The only thing all Brazilians have in common are the language (some would even disagree with this) and that they support the same Football team. Neitherless, Brazil is far more recognized as a democracy than North Korea.

It makes me also think about a few democracies in some countries of Africa or Asia with regular elections. Everything is fine as long as the right party wins. Civil war is the alternative. Some of these leaders might have been elected in the first place but they aren't prepared to give the power away again. I didn't say all countries in Africa or Asia, I said a few. A former president of the United States also crosses my mind. His name is George W. Bush, some of you might remember. He wasn't democratically elected in the first place. Not that only his main opponent Al Gore had more people voting for him. The American election system still allows you to become president under these conditions under certain circumstances. But these circumstances weren't fulfilled neither. Neitherless, Bush became president with the help of the media and lawers while Al Gore was actually elected. Once in power, he started two wars with Iraq and Afghanistan to take democracy to these countries. The American way of democracy.

But we don't have to travel around the whole world to see what democracy actually means. ECan. Does the bell ring? People were put into power to reconfirm the businesses interest and the next election was illegally canceled to make sure that these people stay in power for the next years. Thanks Nationals.

Democracy means that everybody can vote in the first place I think. And that every vote counts the same. That is what the previous mentioned 'equality part' suppose to be I reckon. Well, that is what it means today I reckon. But are the people in power? Do the people really decide what's going on?
We elect people who represent our opinion and we call it the government. But let's be honest: Mostly you vote for a guy because you think the rest is worse. Do you really trust any of them - any of them - that much that he or she can represent your opinion? We are not even get surprised anymore if a corruption case is discovered because we are almost expect a polititian to be like that in the first place. In some countries we even elect people who elect the government. It is hard to imagine that there could be a further way from somebody who has an opinion about a political issue and the power which is responsible. Why isn't there a system in place which makes the people decide on a real democratic base? We would have the technologies. The old Greeks have been far more direct.

Another issue these days is the whole marketing of politics and their advertisement. Like I said before, every vote counts the same. The vote of somebody who has a real political issue to be solved or somebody who wants to keep things in place counts exactly the same like the vote of the guy who votes for a party because he liked the ad at TV the night before.

So what does this all mean?
I don't know to be honest. I know I was born in a dictatorship. They called themself socialists on the way to communism. It was no socialism and even less communism. There has never been a true socialism country in this world. Neither a communism country. You'll not be able to rule a country with these systems; they simply don't work. It was propaganda telling us that these things are in place. The propaganda was there to hide the dictatorship. And the systems would have bend the terms of socialism and communism when there would have been the need for it.
I think it's the same with democracy. I think it is exactly the same. It is simply not there. They tell us it is there to hide that the money has the power. They tell us that you have the power to change everything while the world is ruled by banks and the stock market. Democracy might work eventually if you really go for it but nobody does certainly. And the term also is bend - in dependencies where you are these days - to support the local system. They all claim to be the perfect democracy. But there is not even a definition on Wikipedia explaining what it actually means.