[In the Drunk Tank]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

In the west I believe we have the illusion of democracy, we 'think' we're making at least some of the important decisions regarding our democracy...but we're not it's all a charade.
It's only when you see how we operate in a pincer formation for what we want that you realise we're far removed from the image projected.
Democracy has it's darkside like capitalism right enough, but when you see that rights are being eroded it's not good enough to say 'well it could be worse we could be China'.....but then, we could be China.
And we could have all the issues of the middle east, things could be better but they could also be a lot worse.
Governments the world over have laid claim to every bit of land and all the earths resources, that's not conducive to a happy population as they have nowhere to live and nothing to live off.

But we do actually make a difference. We decide the biggest issue of all in who governs us, not only that but we extend that right to every British citizen and also to a lot of people who are not here on a permanent basis like international students. We have regular elections at all levels, we have systems of accountability, we have means for the public to get much more involved in politics than they have been before. You could say its not a real democracy because there's only really two parties capable of governing, because we don't get a say on every issue, because politicians lie, they spin things, they go back on promises etc. etc. but those things can never be completely eradicated and it is all about trying to apply the best of democratic ideals in a practical and functional sense. And in general we make a very good job of that. I'm not saying we have no right to ever complain or that our system is perfect because that would be silly. But in general the UK is a decent conciliation of numerous different ideas and interests and we should be glad of that