The preamble of the United States' constitution is the perfect example of democratic government:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." (the United States' Constitution)
What other proof needed, to show the democratic origins of the constitution? "Perfect union," "general welfare," "liberty to ourselves and our posterity." And it was all written by our ancestors.
To those who criticize democracy as a form of government, I only quote what John Dryden once said:
Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees the equality of opportunity."
For if one comes to the Land of All Opportunities in search of a better life for himself and his family, no one can guarantee him more than the freedom to do so, in a country that offers him all the conditions to rise himself to such a condition. Democracy in the United States was founded by the American colonists in hope of a better, more just life away from the Old World. It is a country of immigrants, as many might call it, but it still respects the ideals of those who came before us.
Democracy gives the right to every man in the world to play the strings of his own life. Republican or Liberal, black or white, male or female, gay or straight, Catholic or Protestant.
George Bernard Shaw once said that "democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by corrupt few" (Shaw, 1903).
I believe it to be a conservative, shallow point-of-view. Unlike some hundreds of years ago, and perhaps even only tens, we now have the right to information; and the means to obtain it. We can now easily and freely make the difference between a real statesman and a fraud. Even if we let ourselves indulge intro obscure lies, we have the means to correct our error at the next elections.
People in the Parliament come from the masses. They are representatives of the people from among whom they've made their way up. Bright or not so bright, we are entitled to say if we elected them, they must surely represent our will.
People's injustice may erode, at times, the political class' authority, but let us not forget that it is also people's injustice that makes statesmen necessary. If the justice in people gave birth to democracy, it is only natural that democracy fight against injustice, of all kind.
Which is why I say I am a Democrat.
For our ancestor's sake, for they fought for the "blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," let us see the true value of the democracy, and its strength to improve itself to the highest degree of perfection.
Bibliography
Ball, Terence, and Dagger, Richard. "Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal (6th Edition)." Longman, 2005.
Ball, Terence, and Dagger, Richard. "Ideals and ideologies. A Reader." Longman, 2005
Quote of Winchell, Walter. Retrieved Oct. 15-2006 from Http://unconstitutionalities/fun_zone/Famous_misquotes#demo
Quotes of Lincoln, Abraham; Patrick, John; Dryden, John; Smith, E.A. Retrieved Oct. 15-2006 from www.worldofquotes.com/topic/Democracy/index.html
Marx, Karl over E. Burke in "Das Kapital," 1867. Retrieved Oct. 16-2006 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke
Churchill, Winston over E. Burke in "Consistency in Politics, 1925. Retrieved Oct. 16 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
Wollstonecraft, Mary. "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman." 1791. Retrieved Oct. 16-2006 at http://www.bartleby.com/144/
Shaw, George Bernard. "Man and Superman," 1903. Retrieved Oct. 16-2006 at http://www.bartleby.com/157
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