Democracy; a principle that never was

 One of the most astounding arguments I have ever made was that democracy is an illusory principle that doesn't exist. Over and over again I have emphasized that America, what many refer to as the free world and the leading democracy in the world is actually not. Many scribes and political pundits have often asserted that India and China are the biggest democracies in the world. It is true numbers don't lie but it is also true numbers don't measure a democracy at least in my opinion. While at Gettysburg many years ago, President Lincoln defined democracy as a government of the people by the people and for the people. President Museveni also has his version, he believes it is simply having the majority in an election. For starters I think there is no standard definition of democracy. What we have are beliefs of what a democratic world should be like. The Western world has chosen to tread its own democratic path and I think we ought to define ours too. Periodic elections is a step forward in building of a democracy but rigging these elections are four steps backwards. Granting freedom of expression is another leap forward but restricting and censoring the press is a huge leap backwards. These are the small things that our democracy can revolve on and of course not just limited to these.
Robert Michels in his book Political Parties makes a plausible argument about most representative democracies, that they tend to deteriorate towards an oligarchy and he calls this the Iron law of Oligarchy. In 1989, when Uganda first went to polls soon after NRM's capture of power, there was a huge sense of participation of the people, in fact it was a psephocracy in the making. The NRC elections had a prodigious impact on the country's democracy because they once again restored a sense of belief in their government, the people felt they were their own rulers and everyone could feel they were being represented.
Fast forward today, perhaps we have more leaders representing the people than we had in 1989, but the satisfaction and trust that the people felt then has long faded. I could bet we have at least a leader (self styled or genuine) in every household but the true embodiment of statesmanship has long eluded them, politics is only a game for survival now. It is regrettable to discover today that Uganda as a nation has succumbed to the Iron law of Oligarchy.
Adolf Gasser in his analysis of representative democracy finds that for a country to remain as a stable democracy, society has to be built up from bottom to top. Needless to say society has to be built up by its own people, those that later become the very leaders of that society. Gasser makes a rather intriguing argument when he says the people must also have power to defend themselves which means they should be equipped. I do not share the same school of thought with him on that because I believe that society is built by values and these values spring from beliefs. A society built on a solid rock is that which has values that they stand for, beliefs and practices that epitomize a united people. Perhaps one day when we re-discover our values, we could then begin treading the great path of moulding our own democracy.