Democracy

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Really ahh? That one Mr V in V for Vendetta say one ... is just a movie right? No real in the real world? How can! Garmen so scary and big wan. Got sodomy trail if you try anything. Shouldnt they be strong strong so can keep order wan?

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, wrote the above words in a letter to William S. Smith in 1787. It became the basis of the 2nd amendment: that all Americans would have the right to arms; the right to guns.
The founding fathers apparently believed in a strong control to the government. The first control is that of what Thomas Carlyle calls the Fourth Estate. Jeffrey Archer makes the following observation in his novel of the same name:

"In May 1789, Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the 'Estate General'. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy. The Second Estate, three hundred nobles. The Third Estate, six hundred commoners. Some years later, after the French Revolution, Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said, 'Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.'"

But what Jefferson believed was this: a well armed populace which is not afraid to turn on its government is the ultimate check and balance.

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if it's rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

It is its natural manure.

It is a scary thought, especially for us Malaysians, who practice a watered down form of democracy.

Lest we forget: democracy does not mean just elections. It means a government of the people, by the people, for the people, with a multitude of checks and balances in place to ensure the fair use of power, and justice, and peace.



We have a long way to go.

Note: I do not support the 2nd amendment, and I disagree with many elements of the American democracy. However, the purpose of this post is to show that there is more to the concept of democracy than elections, and the entire idea of "We are a democratic country, we are not like Myanmar or Pakistan because we hold erections once every 4 years" is ridiculous.