The Rule Of The Many essays

The Rule Of The Many essays Democracy, literally, means the rule of the many. Here in Canada, we are lucky enough to live in a liberal democracy. We all have the right to vote and elect officials to represent us in government, a priviledge that citizens of only 69.2% of coutries currently have1. But how much of a say does the average person really have in how the country is run? We do not have a say in the day to day activities of the government, nor do we get to vote in major decisions facing our society that will affect us directly. Every four years, we walk down the street, check off a box on a ballot, and leave feeling proud that we just made our contribution to society. While this process is democratic, there are several flaws in it as well, and many would argue that there is a better alternative. In this paper, I will compare our current liberal representative democracy to direct democracy, which would in theory put more power into the hands of ordinary citizens. The liberal democracy that we live in now is a representative democracy. In this system, we elect people to represent us in the government and to make choices on our behalf. We vote for people that share the same values and ideals as us, so that we can remain confident that our voices are being heard in parliament. It is by this method that our society remains ruled by the many, and that every adult, regardless of sex, race, or age has a say in how our country is run. In a true direct democracy, every person would have an equal say in government. We may elect officials to represent us in government, but they would not vote or speak on our behalf, we would do it ourselves. Each decision would ultimately be left in the hands of the citizens. Every person would have an equal say in what went on, and each persons vote would count equally. This would definitely ensure a more truly democratic process than a representative democracy would, but it would be virtually imposs...