„Why democracy sucks“, you’ll ask. „How can you say such a thing? We live in the best political system.“
Oh no, we don’t, I would say. Democracy sucks! Every 2 years I have to vote and decide between more or less the same parties and people, that in the end will not make a difference to me, will disappoint me and disregard their promises made before the elections. People that would tell you anything for your vote, yet they take money from other interest groups and do their bitting, without consulting you.
Democracy sucks, because every decision has to run through a million instances. There are the locals, the environmentalists, religious groups all with their opinions and nothing gets done.
In China, they build airports, highways and bridges, while we cannot because some forest hamster lives there and we have to ask every affected household if they would like a highway in their backyard. And of course, they don’t want that.
So the non-democrats get shit done and can show their huge achievements through state-run media, that never shows the other side. And people in democracies see that and become, rightly so, dissatisfied with the current system.
They have the right to protest against it, while their counterparts in other countries are silenced and put in prison. On the other side, the grass is greener. Less trouble, order and security, fewer foreigners, because for some reason they don’t go there. And we have to live with these people.
And this is the way democracy will eat itself up, wishing it would not have to ask these people for their opinion.
You see? Democracy sucks! It’s not stable on its own. Every day we have to fight for it…
or else…
What do you think? Why do we need democracy, even if it’s not perfect?
And what can you do every day to fight for it?
Benni Battke is a long-term member of AEGEE, and has been very active in movements such as Pulse of Europe and VOLT.