IS DEMOCRACY FAILING US, OR ARE WE FAILING DEMOCRACY?

It is true that a lot of countries of the world has adopted the democratic system of governance. If there is one thing that I feel this method of governance has brought to these countries, it will be some level of free will. In the times of the monarchs things were different and way difficult than we have it now. I’m very sure a lot of us that live in this present way of leadership will find it hard to accept it. Democracy like every other forms of government has its limitations. There is no form of leadership that have not existed before and we can see how all of these forms of leadership worked out.

For the hivelearners topic DEMOCRACY, we are asked to share our thoughts on its effectiveness or if there is a need for new way of Governance. Particularly, I have seen most Africa countries evolve over the years. I feel things wouldn’t have been different if we still continued with all the old ways of leadership our ancestors embraced. Democracy is a form of leadership that gets everyone involved. These days a lot of us are less interested in politics. Particularly myself. I see politics as something that is not exactly worth my time and that is because both us and the government are not exactly practicing the democracy we claim to be practicing.

Democracy for me is one of the best forms of leadership as we have it in the world today. But like I mentioned before, it has its own limitations and those limitations are as a result of human nature. Democracy as we defined it back in junior school is “the government of the people, by the people and for the people”. What this simply means is that for every government that is in power, it must be one that is chosen among the people. One that is chosen by the people and one that is willing to serve the people. So based on this definition, we can see that democracy itself is one of the best but we fail to do things the right way and we suffer for it.

These days a lot of people are no longer interested in casting their votes because they know how corrupt the system is. We just complain and complain and accept whatever leader emerges as the winner. This alone violates what democracy stands for. It now feels more like democracy is the people of the government, by the government and for the government. And this didn’t just happen because those in power are wicked or corrupt, it happened because the people themselves are corrupt, greedy and selfish.

We most times forget that democracy is two ways; the people and the government. So when one fails to play its part, the other one still continues. And in most cases, we have returned the power back to the government and now they make the rules and we complain. We feel frustrated and angry but it was something we thought never mattered but it actually mattered. I believe true democracy will help any nation prosper. We just have to keep watching each others back. The people watching the government’s back and the government watching the people’s backs.

But until then, no form of government will really give us what we think we want. Yes, it might satisfy some people but it won’t exactly give the nation what it needs. Having the opportunity to do what we want is not something you can find in any country and that is one of the power that democracy gives to us. We don’t just see things going wrong and let it be; we shouldn’t. The moment we let it be, things starts to take a new direction and when that happens, it’s almost hard to get back on track.

This is my response to the topic. Thanks for reading through. ❤️