By Sebastian Salgado Morales - International Relations student

People frequently assume that democracy is the ultimate form of government known because citizens get to participate in the state’s activities such as elections. Winston Churchill once said: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time". By this, we can understand that as many deficiencies as democracy may have, the other forms of government have way more of them, and are not as efficient when used in a government. But if democracy is the actual best form of government, why are there more and more politicians ruling under self-interest?

First, a democracy is a political system in which the state’s citizens get to vote for their preferred candidates to become the country’s leaders. In a democracy the civil right of suffrage must be free and universal, and the elections cannot be altered or have only one candidate to be considered legitimate. Power is an essential part of politics, and this subject can be used in a wide variety of ways, some good and some not so much. The United States, for instance, is thought to have a deficient democracy due to actions made by President Trump, like the attacks made to the Department of Justice or the recent threats made over the rioters situation all over the country. Another unfortunate example is Turkey, where the country’s presidency was going through a lot of problems back in 2018, and a presidential election had to be made in June in which Recep Tayyip Erdogan won. This election which was carried out during a state of emergency that seemed to be fair, but it was not.

Now, you may ask yourself why more and more politicians are using democracy in such a wrong way that makes it look as if it was power hungry. Well, I must begin by saying that no one should judge something solely by what a minority has done to harm it. With that being said, there are many ways in which we can help solve this problem despite not being in control over the state, like participating in the activities held by the government, such as the periodic elections. If democracy is characterized by something, it is by the freedom of voting by our favorite political party, so we must take advantage of this opportunity in order to get an exemplary democracy. We can also use our right to peacefully protest whenever we do not like a certain action made by the government. Protesting is a source of power that all citizens have and, historically, it has helped to make a change in society. A perfect example are the recent protests held all over the world for the regrettable death of George Floyd, in which companies have started donating to the help fight the racist situation worldwide.

In conclusion, as many regimes that may have existed during time, democracy has proven to be the most effective of all, if applied well. It is very unfortunate to see how a form of government with such good principles is being used in an evil way that makes people not want to be involved with it. We as people must stand up and make a change not only for us, but for the future generations in this world that we live in.

 

MOXIE es el Canal de ULACIT (www.ulacit.ac.cr), producido por y para los estudiantes universitarios, en alianza con el medio periodístico independiente Delfino.cr, con el propósito de brindarles un espacio para generar y difundir sus ideas.  Se llama Moxie - que en inglés urbano significa tener la capacidad de enfrentar las dificultades con inteligencia, audacia y valentía - en honor a nuestros alumnos, cuyo “moxie” los caracteriza.