There are times when I wonder what is the point of democracy.
In the US, while they say that anyone can become President and claim that they have no 'upper class', the truth is that only the rich or those strongly supported by the rich can ever aspire to the White House. The result has been a succession of disastrous incumbents culminating in the current office-holder who seems to have no ability to achieve anything of note.
In the UK, we have a government composed of an assortment of Old Etonians and multi-millionaires, probably not one of whom has the slightest notion as to how the bulk of the population exists. These arrogant and self-aggrandinsing arse-holes feel compelled to fiddle with every element of everyday life in order to try to convince the electorate that they're doing something meaningful. In truth, all they ever do make things worse than they were before; they lie, cheat and swindle in order to a) enrich themselves and b) get re-elected. Along the way, the people become more and more subservient to a ruling class that controls almost every aspect of their daily lives. It matters not which party holds the reins, they're all basically the same.
In assorted parts of Europe, it's little different. The people are 'consulted' once every few years and asked to vote for a President or Prime Minister, plus all his or her party hacks. Once elected, they go off and do whatever they like, frequently ignoring the will of the people on the basis that the people don't, or can't understand the issues involved or that while they, the political class, understands the peoples' concerns, they also understand the longer-term issues more thoroughly and, therefore, 'they know best'. This has been happening in recent times over the disaster that is the Euro, and the consequences are now being felt as Greece faces massive civil unrest; how soon before other countries follow ?
To all intents and purposes, western-style democracy is dictatorship. There is very little real choice about who to vote for as the system is heavily weighted towards the main political parties. The party candidates are all chosen by inner cabals of party faithful, few of whom ever 'make waves', and all of whom are far more interested in their own positions than in anything else. Once elected, our representatives spend 95%, and more, of their time sucking up to their party bosses, mostly in the hope of achieving preferment and a cosy little job to use as a springboard for future advancement in a sphere of their own choosing.
Is the 'voice of the people' heard ? Rarely. Is the 'voice of the people' heeded ? Even more rarely. Sadly, politicians don't learn form history, even though many of them seem to know quite a lot about it. When the people are ignored for too long, and I don't count elections as having any true relevance' they eventually become disenchanted, then annoyed and finally violent. Disenchantment leads to a drop in the numbers of people voting, and we've already seen that, while annoyance leads to minor, non-violent demonstrations such as those staged by 'Fathers for Justice' and others in France, Germany and several of their European neighbours. Once violence erupts, the game is almost up and we've seen the beginnings of that, too, not only in Greece but here in dear old Blighty.
It may be a little extreme to suggest that the final step will be the public beheading of Cameron or some other Prime Minister, but it is also a naive politician who doesn't foresee the real possibility of substantial civil unrest across the whole of Europe in the not-too-distant future. The common people are not well educated, despite what our politicians would have us believe, and most are increasingly tribal. There are increasing numbers of foreign immigrants who hold little allegiance to any of the governments of Europe and may well have their own agendas to follow. What price some real trouble within, say, the next 10-20 years ?
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