Democracy: Real or Imitation?

by Charles Sullivan

02 October 2002

Let’s not deceive ourselves. The only people who are capable of ending the madness that the run amok Bush Regime is dispersing around the world are private citizens. The multi national corporations will not do it—they are the ones pulling the strings in the ongoing puppet dance, both in the Whitehouse and in Congress; the corporate media will not do it for the same reasons. When government is in cahoots with gluttonous corporations—as is now the case—it is the duty of private citizens to crash the party. There is no one else to look to. If we would evoke change and stem the tide of evil that is laving upon our shores, the people must start paying attention to the issues and become interested in government once more.

As nauseous as the prospect may seem, every citizen must nevertheless learn how to care about political events both at home and abroad. If we will not participate, we will have no voice in government. And involvement requires far more than merely casting a vote in election years. We must daily educate ourselves about the issues and get personally involved in them. Do not rely upon the talking heads on the evening news to inform your opinions. We must peruse other sources of information that are widely available, if we are to see the complete picture in all its details. The corporate owned media has a vested interest in manipulating public opinion—a job it does only too well. A free press is an important feature for disseminating facts in a democratic society. In most cases, however, the mainstream press is no longer a free press. One must look elsewhere.

As a people, we must cease making pathetic excuses for our silence in the face of unbridled US brutality and plans for world domination. The Bush regime’s aggression against the people of Iraq; its specter of perpetual war; the systematic rape and pillage of the land; the fouling of the air and water; its support for the illegal and immoral Israeli occupation of Palestine; and its sinister plans for world domination must be vigorously opposed by anyone who believes in the principle of democracy, or even simple human decency. The Bush regime must be vociferously opposed by any and all compassionate thinking persons. Moreover, it must be exposed to the world for what it is—unbridled greed for the benefit of multinational corporations. These bastards have hijacked our democracy. We must take it back—by force if necessary!

An active, well informed citizenry is the cornerstone of democracy. All the flag waving and heart-rending speeches in the world will not translate into democracy without our direct and informed participation. This course of action requires that we give up our boredom and replace it with activism. It also requires that we take responsibility for seeing that government adheres to the will of the people—not the shareholders of the corporation.

We must stop selling ourselves short as citizens. We can and must take power out of the hands of the special interest groups. Understand that the champions of the status quo will not give us power—we must take it back from them. We must restore power to its rightful place—in the hands of ‘we the people’. We must demonstrate sufficient self respect, as well as respect for justice, to know that what we think matters. We should ask ourselves why wealthy corporate donors have a dictitorial voice in government, while ordinary citizens have no voice at all. Who represents us in Washington? If our elected representatives do not, then why allow them to serve the enemies of a free and open society? Is this not government without representation? Why do we tolerate this intolerable state of affairs? Our silence—our inaction—in the face of evil not only allows these oppressive events to continue, it fuels them.

We must not simply petition the government to be heard. We must pound our fists on the podium and demand that our voice be heard and our views fully considered by those in power. Let us stand on the podium and shout at the top of our lungs, shaking our fists in the wind, until we have the full attention and cooperation of the people who are supposed to represent our interests. If that strategy fails, then let us march on Washington in mass, kick the doors of government down, and throw the bastards out in the street!

To our utter disgrace, through ignorance combined with apathy, America has degenerated into a nation of self-righteous, flag waving jingoists. We pompously move under a cloak of self deception that drives national apathy and fosters imitation patriotism. Appallingly, this game of self deceit has continued so long that we can no longer distinguish the difference between the mere symbols of democracy and democracy itself. Too many of us have forgotten what the word “democracy” actually means, as well as the individual responsibility and constant vigilance it requires. Most importantly, democracy requires deep and personal involvement on the part of every citizen, whether they vote or not.

In our larger role as world citizens we have abrogated our responsibility for implementing and upholding democratic principles, both at home and abroad. Rather than enacting participatory government, that is—true democracy—we have bought a cheap but glistening imitation and inserted it in democracy’s place. We have fooled ourselves into believing that it is the real thing. Thus we have unwittingly elected imposters to serve and to represent us in government. These people have proceeded to make a mockery of everything that all good and decent people—regardless of party affiliation—hold as sacred truths. And we allowed it to happen because we were silent when we should have spoken; we were complacent when we should have been alert and involved.

All Americans must soon realize that respect for the flag cannot and will not make us a free and democratic people. Nor will it make us a great and just nation. Only a strict non-compromised adherence to the living principles of democratic behavior will free us from our present enslavement to the corporate master, as well as the almighty dollar that poisons our politics and feeds citizen apathy. Nor does military might make a nation great and powerful. It is citizen involvement alone that accomplishes this and much more. But it is safer and easier to delude ourselves into believing that we are a free and democratic nation than to actually work toward these lofty and difficult goals. Perhaps democracy is simply too inconvenient for us anymore. Perhaps it is no longer worth the effort required to usher it into existence and maintain its well being for the long haul. If so, then we deserve what we are getting and the horrors that are yet to come.

Just as too many of us have deluded ourselves into accepting the artificial in place of the authentic—we accept Disney World in place of the actual world; McDonald’s in place of wholesome and nourishing foods; flag waving and nationalism in place of real freedom and actual democracy. We are a people who have lost our ethical way in the world. We are a disposable culture of fast food addicts and convenience. We want everything to be easy to the extent that we no longer challenge ourselves to see the actual and put forth the mental, physical and spiritual effort that genuine democracy requires. So we settle for imitations and congratulate ourselves on our garish nationalism, while the rest of the world—too often with complete justification—sees us as we really are and hates us for it.

Through our collective apathy we have allowed the Supreme Court, aided by a compliant corporate media, to appoint Bush—a pitiable excuse for a man—as president; a right wing nut who has effectively suspended the constitution to the post of attorney general, and wealthy, gluttonous millionaires to wage endless war against the Earth and her people. These events—regrettable as they are—didn’t just happen. We allowed them to occur. Too many of us were unwilling to do anything to fight for democracy while these stealthy cowards without conscience or morals substituted imitation democracy for the genuine article. Indeed, we unwittingly encouraged them in their malfeasance and mislabeled it democracy.

Any reasonably compassionate and thinking person cannot feel proud that this travesty is taking place on our watch. How will we explain our woefully pathetic failure to our children and our grand children? How foolish we must look in the eyes of the world; waving our flags while dutifully licking the boots of our oppressors, who have gleefully stolen our most sacred doctrines and subverted them to their own sinister purposes.

Whenever good and decent people fail to act against enormous wrong doings, their inaction makes them complicit in the injustice. The alienation of the people from the political process fosters mediocrity in governance. That is how we got here.

So forgive me if I do not fly the flag from my house or plaster it all over my car. I still fully recognize the difference between imitations and the genuine article. I refuse to submit to and obey false idols of any kind. I will continue to stand and fight for democracy, even if the Bush regime will not. So, what will it be for you: imitation democracy or real democracy? There is no middle ground.

Charles Sullivan, a contributing writer for Liberal Slant, is a veteran wild forest activist, mountain party activist, writer, poet and cabinetmaker. He resides in the rural countryside of West Virginia.