we vote every few years but most of the big important, far reaching and critical decisions get made out of our hands, by the cabinet, “faceless men” and whatever influences them the most at the time.
sometimes the influence is the media which we do not control
sometimes it is get-up and other advocacy groups which is more divested but again out of my direct influence on most issues
sometimes it is just them and their current head space.
sometimes it is lobby groups, think tanks and other top end big money
rarely is it me.
so is it a democracy? I know I can, and i have written letters, signed petitions, attended marches etc but their are limits to what i can do. I can’t even tweet or blog on every issue. I get caught up and tired.
So i am reasonably happy most of the time with our oligarcy but don’t call it a democracy until I and all the people can have regular conversations with my representatives.
I guess this would support the argument for more power to smaller more local governments. I need to consider what this would mean in practice and what involvement it would require of me and what i could contribute to real democracy.
interested in your thoughts.