The Ideas Of Representative Democracy

Representative democracy is a form of government where elected officials are voted on the behalf of the people to represent them in government processes; it is a corrupt system due to the lack of accomplishment for the common good. This is demonstrated throughout numerous ways such as flaws in education, illusions of freedom, the voting influencing on the democratic environment, and ultimately the absence of the greater good.

School is the main resource that teaches people what they need to know in order to succeed in the “real world”. Subjects such as math, English, and even French are taught; yet what the education system lacks is a subject that is focused on relevance in our society that will someday affect us – politics. At eighteen,
people are eligible to vote in elections, but because of the ignorance and blind eye mentality, we have no insight or knowledge about politics as a whole, and perhaps because we are poorly informed, there is no serious interest or devotion in public affairs. The rates of voting have tremendously decreased and this is because people do not have the knowledge to be qualified to make political decisions. Citizens are poorly informed, have no serious interest in public affairs and are generally incompetent for political participation (Kriesi).

The underlying purpose behind representative democracy is the aspect of freedom for the people – the choice of who is the best person to dictate and make laws on our behalf is up to the people to decide. Yet, while this choice gives people the power during elections, once the votes are in, it is in the hands of the elected politician as to what happens next. This so called “freedom” that is given is only periodical; merely an illusion to convince people that they are the ones in control – in reality, it is almost like the people are the puppets in the governments’ hands. We have a role until we are no longer needed, and then we have to cooperate with what lies ahead, and more often than not, promises are broken, rules are changed and the elected are not held accountable. This ties into how insufficiently people are educated in regards to politics; since we cannot participate in representative democracy, we may not be aware of what truly goes on and buy into the lies and deceit that surrounds us after the elections.

All political ideologies have algorithms; they all follow a certain pattern, most often into disturbing self-contradictions and make assumptions skewing to meet a changing reality. The media and the elite manipulate the data at times of the election on issues to convince people they know what they are voting on in order to win votes. Fewer Canadians have been voting in the past few years; 53.8% of adults voted in the 2011 federal election, which is Canada’s second lowest voter turnout of all time. Many believe the decline in voter turnout lies with youth, as only 38.8% of young adults participated in 2011’s election. Ranking 14 out of 17 peer countries, we are one of the lowest countries who actively are involved during election time. Since low voter turnout is present in our country with no improvement since the 1990’s, it is logical to assume that our democratic system does not reflect the interests of all Canadian citizens, and there lies one of our biggest problems. Perhaps in countries like Belgium, who scored the highest voting turnout and Austria, in second place, where voting is compulsory, is an aspect that we may want to consider bringing into our country so that we can truly get the most out of what little power we have and wisely choose someone to represent us as a whole.

We share a growing sense of disappointment, cynicism and fear for our world. The greater good is the ideal way of life – fairness, equality, freedom and having a voice – yet can it really be achieved in terms of a representative democracy? While a collective majority vote ultimately decides who will represent us to make laws and form a government, not everybody can get their way or have rules that suit their needs; in fact it is reasonable to suggest that the only persons’ needs that will be met are the politician’s – that is not in the least what can be considered something beneficial for all – and therefore it is basically impossible to believe that the greater good can be present.

While the term representative democracy is derived from Greek meaning “people governed”, the harsh reality of our democracy is that it is anything but people governed.
Instead only single person governed. Yes, when it comes down to election time we are relied upon to make a decision regarding our country and who it is ruled by, but this power is short-lived and taken away just as soon as it is given to us. The absence of knowledge about politics in our education systems has a huge impact on the influence of the interest of our youth, who eventually grow up to be the adults voting that are hardly aware of what’s going on around them with their government, which of course influences our voter turnout numbers. Therefore the “freedom” that we as citizens have is abused and does not accurately represent our democratic system and there is the reason the greater good cannot be achieved and our system is corrupt. All of these factors go hand in hand, so change must be made if we ever want to increase our awareness of democracy and our voter turnout. Schools should educate students at a young age, online voting should be an option for those who don’t have the time to go and vote in person (any other ideas can be listed here). Maybe, just maybe, a difference, a good one for that matter, can exist in Canada if all we do is put a little bit of effort into it and
try.