Democracy in Practice

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Democracy in Practice

According to Prout, the right of people to vote only upon acquiring acertain age is fundamentally defective. The qualities of a candidate cannotbe judged by the majority unless the majority itself has acquired a fair levelof consciousness. Common people remain engrossed in satisfying their common needs. They are reluctant and uninterested in finding a trueleader. Some argue that fair education for the masses is an answer to that.But it has proved futile even in developed countries. Much energy andresources are being spent on literacy in these countries. But people are notsatisfied with the order or values thriving under their elected democrats. Inthis regard Prout suggests that voting rights be given according to moralintegrity and social awareness. - Ac. Krtashivananda Avt.

by Ac. Krtashivananda Avt.May 2007What is the democratic way of life? It includes faith in human relations, tolerance,respect for opinions even if contradictory, equal justice and rights for all, freedomof thought and expression, to act according to one's conscience, to do one'srightful duty without fear, to support a government which a person has a voice inmaking and dissolving, and to promote moral causes and advance proper reforms without fear of a repugnant reaction from the ruling class.Democracy may mean either a form of society or a form of government.Democracy as a form of social organization rests on the principle of socialequality. It presupposes the absence of caste, race or class distinction.Democracy becomes meaningful, however, only when the members of thesociety have equal economic rights and when ultimate power rests with thepeople.Democracy as a form of government means a government in which the peopleexercise indirect control over the government through their electedrepresentatives. In modern times, democracy implies something more than aform of government - a type of society.Today political thinkers are realizing that the democratic ideal will remainimperfect unless the entire field of economic activity is democratized.

The main features of modern democracy in its political aspect are:

- Indirect popular rule in the form of universal franchise.

- Rule of government.- Responsible government.- Alternation of power.- Decentralization of power through the institution of local governmentDemocratic principles today apply only to the government structure. There stillexists an undemocratic social, economic and judicial order. In order to be real,democracy must be a combination of social, political and economic democracy,with the opportunity for all to get equal justice from its judicial system. The idealsof liberty and equality cannot be realized by giving voting rights only; they mustbe extended to social and economic life and especially to the sphere of dispensation of justice. According to H.E. Burns:"The greatest weakness of modern democracy is that it must work throughrepresentative government, which in turns requires a political party. Thus far thishas proved fatally deficient as the main agency of democratic government.Parties create political confusion and instability by rigid adherence to outdatedpolitical theories. They encourage both political corruption and autocracy as aresult of the inevitable development of party machines. When either two-party or block systems break down, there is a tendency to resort to a one-party system,which is one of the main unscrupulous traits of political totalitarianism."(1)

Essential factors

The factors essential for the success of democracy are as follows:- People should be educated, in the sense that people should have sufficientpolitical intelligence and general understanding.- Moral consciousness must be sufficient to protest against political corruptionand selfish leadership.- Social consciousness should be high enough to counter the influence of casteism, racism and other narrow sentimental influences.- The minimum requirements of each individual must be guaranteed

Democratic rights

- Democratic rights may be broadly classified under two headings civil andpolitical.

- Rights enjoyed by citizenry constitute their civil liberties. The fundamental civilrights are:- Right to life, which implies protection of life.- Right to personal freedom.- Right to work.- Right to property, limited but sufficient to provide the basic necessities of life(both consumer and capital properties).- Right to association.- Right to religion and conscience.- Right to contract.- Right to speech and media.- Right to family life.- Right to educationAbsolute personal freedom, which may be called the corollary of unbridledpassion and selfish materialism, is detrimental to democracy.Political rights are the content of political liberty, and include the following:- Right to vote.- Right to be elected as a member of the legislature.- Right to hold public office in any service of the government.-Freedom of opinion, which implies the right to discuss and criticize governmentmeasures.Regarding the right to vote, Prout proposes that it be qualitative and notquantitative. This will be discussed below.

Duties of the citizen

- Duty means obligation. There are legal and moral duties of citizens whichinclude:

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