Democracy or the candle in the storm part I: Introduction

In the words of Sir Karl Popper: Democracy is the best system not because it leads to the best possible government, but because it contains a nonviolent means to get rid of an imperfect one.

But by its very nature, Democracy is both a fickle mistress and a dangerously fragile thing. It is illusory to think that democratic institutions, the system of checks and balances in place will be sufficient to safeguard Democracy in the face of classical strongmen, climate change, mass migration, military conflict, mass unemployment and exotic and sci-fi-esque threats to it. Even within the confines of the law, there are plentiful threats to Democracy, or, to use the analogy I used in the beginning, to the Candle in the Storm. Once extinguished, we may find we can not light it again. In the analogy, that would leave us trapped in darkness.

Let me introduce myself: I go by Kershmaru online. I believe that the source of an argument all too often leads to appeals to authority or a lack of belief based on the political alignment of the source. I am Austrian, and the political compass test places me where they place Thomas Payne, a slightly left leaning libertarian and founding father of the USA. When I do not ramble about politics, I write, primarily sci-fi and horror. Please do not hold this against me and rest assured that the scenarios I explore in these blogs are all too real.

I need to preface this series of blogs by saying that I am neither a supporter of Donald Trump nor do I demonize him to the same degree some people do. My main gripe with the man is that I consider him not competent to hold the office. While I think that he will do some damage to the US, and believe he already has by intensifying the already existing division in American society, I do not think he will be the end of Democracy in the United States. It is too early for that. However, I believe that he may or may not aggravate problems that will pose additional dangers to democracy and prosperity down the line. I will come back to him in the second part of this blog: Classical strongmen.

Democracy is a system that gives every citizen the ability to in a limited fashion influence the system. It is safeguarded primarily by the division of power in the three branches of government: The executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicative branch. These three branches or estates of government are accompanied by a fourth: the media. I would like to propose a fifth one: the Internet.

In addition to these five estates, there are political parties and norms.

It is seductive to think that in Democracies, the power lies with the People. It is also not true, to various degrees depending on the specific System of Democracy implemented.

The power lies with the political parties, who can make decisions without the People’s consent. They can also endorse and elevate potentially dangerous individuals.

Furthermore, there is a set of unofficial political rules: The norms. Things that are not codified in law, but expected.

These two things, the political parties with their agendas and the political norms are the first gatekeepers safeguarding the road to power.

I will come back to the Bulwarks of democracy in an eponymous blog post. For now, I will leave you with some thoughts on why I am more concerned than ever with the frailty and beauty that is Democracy.

There has never been a global Democracy. Of course, no political system has ever had global power, but the world is getting smaller, more interconnected – and more fragile. With each technological and political achievement, we have won new Amenities, a new standard of living – and face new challenges.

Already, our every move, both in the virtual world and in real life can be tracked by powerful algorithms. Wheather you realize it or not, these constructs interact with you and influence your life. They might decide your professional future, or whether or not you can take a bank loan. For those of you who are interested in such things, I can only highly recommend Cathy O’Neil’s “Weapons of Math Destruction.” A truly frightening book, because it depicts the world we already more and more live in. And those “weapons” weren’t created with ill intent.

Why am I concerned for Democracy? Because while when it only fails on a local level, it is quite likely to return. Should it fail on a global scale, our technology and political system may be turned against us, and we be kept in darkness in perpetuity. I do not believe for a second that the Nazis could have been successful in forming their thousand-year Reich. But in the not so far future, we might be able to. And we might never see it coming.