Democracy and Frustration

No, this is not a post on statistical physics of disordered systems. It's a plain and simple article about how people get frustrated because the idea they have about democracy does not agree with reality.

What is the idea most people associate with democracy? The school sentence that says that "democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people" of course is just marketing. The term "democracy" has origins in Greece (around the 5th century) and is basically the idea that, instead of having just one person deciding things, we can put them to vote. Although as time passes we would like this voting to extend to everyone, that was not the original idea. The vote would be extended to some classes of people.

Is democracy the best system of government possible? No. Definitely no. It's the best we could find, but the system where the majority decides what the minority also has to do can be very unfair, although the tyranny becomes spread to a large portion of the population instead of being from only one individual. It's a logical fallacy, and there are plenty of experimental evidence, that the majority is always right. Even that the majority should have the right to decide about what is best for the community. That's why democracy HAS to be regulated somehow. The ideal way would be a rational one, but people are hardly rational.

But that's not exactly the issue I want to write about, even because that is something that is reasonably well-known. The false expectation I'm talking about is another one, the idea that, in a democracy, the government will try to help the people. Don't get me wrong. That is truly what they should do. Actually, the rulers should be employees like any other. The truth, however, is that they are not.

Let's be honest. Whoever gets power wants to keep it, and that is independent of the government style. That happens as much in South America as in Europe (I know, I lived in both). But it's not enough to stay there, you also want to keep the privileges which make being there worthwhile, which we know are many. One of them is the privilege to take decisions that will benefit yourself.

The fact is that, for those who rule, the rest of the people are seen as an asset. An asset to generate resources and an asset to be used in case of war. This asset has to be managed to fit their objectives, which in general are not the same as the rest of the people simply because the ruler's position of power makes his/her objectives automatically different. A ruler doesn't need to worry about being mugged, or about not having money to eat, or many other things that the citizens in general do.

Now, how do you manage to make people do what you want? The modern way can be summarised by the word "marketing". Marketing is heavily based on playing with people's psychology. And it's rather effective too. The only problem is that, if people start to think too much, they might as well understand what is happening and refuse to follow "the plan". For instance, why would you invade a country that is not invading yours if you're happy at peace in your home? How could people be convinced that decreasing their pensions while not touching the salary of the politicians is the best option when the budget needs a cut?

The answer, of course, is by making people not think. That's what governments do all the time. It's a give and take game, of course. They cannot be too greedy, because today there is a whole moral code among democratic nations. There is the press. It's part of the marketing. However, things like cutting funding for "not practical" research can be done, even with the support of the majority, which never notices that they are being robbed from the right to learn how to think.

So, don't be ever fooled. Even in the most democratic government, the objective of the rulers is to stay there and gather more and more power. They do that bit by bit. It's their nature. The role of the citizen is NOT to trust that the government will do thing right. The role of the citizen is to keep an eye, to complain, to expose whatever is unreasonable and to fight for their rights. If you expect the government to be nice to you, you're just being the kind of naive person they like most and, invariably, will be disappointed.