Functional Democracy

I am a Namibian citizen by birth, but I will not vote in this upcoming election.

I used to in the past, but have developed this irritating itch as of late, which begs to be exposed and scratched.

You see, this system we call democracy is flawed to the core and has become an idol around which hypnotised and broken people congregate to worship.

Being the religion of America, Africans, Europeans and Indians have followed suit without having any clue as to what they were doing.

A mass of unworthy voters vote unworthy leaders into power, who end up forming an incompetent government over a perpetually angry population.

Why is there so much bitterness and animosity all over the world? It is because of incompetent leaders who were voted into power by hysterical masses, who they now have to pacify and please in order to remain in that position.

They are like the old Roman emperors of the third century who used circuses to feed the citizens bread and gladiator entertainment to keep them happy and avoid being held accountable for their leadership incompetence.

Our crisis is that humanity is sick, with no remedy in sight.

I could extol the virtues of dictatorships, monarchies or theocracies, but the problem with those systems is that all authority is centred around a single individual who starts out as a fairly decent leader, only to lose touch with reality and their people with age until degenerating into tyranny.

What I want, and the only thing that will get me to register again, would be the instituting of a new, discriminative kind of democracy, where only registered and consistent taxpayers are eligible to vote, lobby, and participate in public meetings.

In this system, both the wealthy and poor person would have equal say in the democratic process, as both pay their prescribed tax. Non-taxpayers would not be eligible to vote, they would have no voice and no influence; no right to complain or protest either, neither to own a business.

People who pay their taxes actually care about their country and people, and are very likely to choose competent and steadfast leaders.

In this unstable world, it is high time we stop forcing forward a broken and dysfunctional political system, and redefine the way we choose the leaders who rule over us.

W Smit