It would not be perfectly honest for me to claim that my knowledge of history isn't spotty with huge gaps and a lot of accidental revisions based on forgotten details. That becomes funny because I like to use historical examples when I speak but I my mind always drifted off in history class and I generally don't pay attention to details anyway, so any history I cite is just as likely false as true or possibly even made up.
Bear that in mind when reading the following.
It is my understanding that the first democracy appeared in Athens, Greece several thousand years ago. As far as I know it wasn't democracy as we have it today where everyone who was born in Greece was a citizen and got to vote. To vote you needed to be a citizen, and to be a Greek citizen I think you need to own a restaurant. But all the same it was a pretty progressive notion and a nice divergence from monarchy or dictatorship. The Ancient Greeks did some really outstanding things and were way ahead their time, which isn't really relevant but it is worth mentioning.
A lot of people claim that the Ancient Asian and American civilizations are unfairly overlooked because everyone focuses on European history. I think that claim is really kind of an exaggeration. The Greeks pioneered natural philosophy and math, and unlocked the secrets of the triangle! What did the Aztecs make? Scary statues. Big deal.
Jumping forward a few thousand years, as this is written the date is November 3st 2004, the day after the American presidential election. As it happens Canada held a federal election this year too. And where I live there is a Provincial election coming up, not to mention we just had a mayorial election in my city.
So there has been a lot of election talk going on. When we people in my province go to the polls to vote in our Provincial election it will be the third election in like 6 months. After that we will have voted for all 3 levels of government in one year. There has been a lot of democracy to think about, our democracy bowls have been really overflowing with hot fresh freedom soup.
These unprecedented levels of democracy have understandably fatigued some people. Thinking about all those issues and concerns about our future can be kind of draining. One person it has fatigued is super genius newspaper columnist Patrycja Romanowska. In fact she mashed out a really well thought out article(ahem) on the subject of elections in a local bad newspaper. Her article amused me because it was so dumb. I linked to it below but if you don't feel like reading it then allow me to summarize her argument:
She's tired of all this election business, couldn't they just leave us alone?
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Patrycja_Romanowska/2004/11/01/695331.html
Hey I get tired too, but I find it hysterical that someone thinks democracy is such a burden. Oh poor us! Try moving to China. So here's what I suggest you say to anyone who says voting is such a hassle. Tell them: Don't vote.
Now I could pretend that I think I am going out on a limb by supporting democracy and that I don't already know most people do, excluding of course the above mentioned columnist. Instead here is a brief story of a personal experience. During the last election I was walking out of a polling station and I saw lots of people walking in and out. There were some old people, young people, fatso's, string beans, highpockets and fishfaces. Looking around at these meaningless nobodies at that instant I understood what it was all for. All these types of people were getting out and making their choice be known.
Granted our choices are typically between one snake in the grass or another. It isn't much of a choice, but the idea is great. I honestly believe there exists at least an outside chance that one day a candidate will run in an election who is worth your support. Until that day you have the option to pick a side and cross your fingers that if your guy wins he won't botch things up so badly that you wish you didn't.
Nietzsche proposed that there are 2 kinds of people. There are the exceptional who are born leaders and then there are the masses who are the rest. The exceptional people are the ones who go about shaping the world, and shaping the masses, to their will. For some people this notion is the convenient basis for the mindset that the masses are stupid cattle and need a strong leader to run their lives for them.
But that is bullshit. We are all the masses. One big herd. For a long time I also believed that there were those 2 kinds of people. And you may find this surprising but I didn't classify myself as part of the masses. But then something happened that changed my mind about it. It happened during my 100th conversation with another random person when they told me how they figured that one day they would be overseeing their own vast empire. That was when I realized that everyone thinks they will have an empire. Everyone thinks they are exceptional. Nobody actually thinks they are a part of the mob.
Then who are all those people riding the bus? Who are all those people in line with you at the grocery store, who is cutting down on carbs? Sorry but its us. Sure you might do 10 things differently but you can bet you do 100 things the same. Sad but true. Moo Moo Moo. We are all part of the masses.
But aren't each of us special? I guess we each still can be. But the logic follows that if anybody is special its because we're all special. If you're looking for a boost to your self esteem I guess you could use that.
Being special when we're all special basically means your specialness can't overrule mine, or even the specialness of someone way stupider and uglier than you. And that also means that if I am going to be an emperor than so are you.
If we're all gonna be emperors its gonna get pretty fucking crowded down at city hall.
But if that's the way we want it, that's what we actually get. And it might just be the best way for things to be.
Where am I going with all this? The Greeks had it right. If you give the power* to rule to everyone it forces us all to split it. In a democracy I guess we are all emperors, but we have to share it with all the other millions of emperors. Its funny that once you split up control into so many little pieces it appears to mean nothing. But it doesn't mean nothing, does it?
Which sort of leads me to the American Presidential Election. By now you probably know who won it. Try to bear in mind that even if the guy you didn't like has won it, the herd has spoken. Clearly people within the herd will have a difference of opinion. Simple logic dictates that half the herd is dumber than half the herd. So chances are you are dumber than somebody and smarter than somebody else, and you probably disagree with one of them, or both, or absolutely everybody. Like me.
Anyway, the herd probably picks the wrong guy as often as the right one, but what can you do? I think I would rather have an elected shit for brains than be the royal subject of some guy calling himself the Son of Rah and making me build a big stupid pyramid to bury his cats in. Even if they were cats who greatly outranked me socially.
And on that slightly unusual thought I bid you adieu till next time.
*This doesn't take into consideration the power of government agencies, lobby groups and corporations who may in fact be the ones in charge after all. Well ... sort of, but its more complicated than that.