Liberal Democracy is a Joke
I wish that more people understood that voting isn’t the only thing that constitutes a democracy. Yes, having the right (or the ability) to vote can — in some instances — be a useful democratic tool, but it isn’t the be-all-end-all which defines our democratic freedoms. More often than not, especially in liberal democracies — such as Canada and the United States — our ability to vote is promoted as the only way for us to express ourselves politically, which I feel confuses people into thinking we live in a more democratic society than we actually do.
Yes, the right to vote does certainly mean that we have greater democratic freedom than some places around the world who don’t have that privilege. However, democracy isn’t just some static category where you’re either democratic or not. It should be viewed on a sliding scale of more-or-less democratically free. Democratic freedom is a goal, it’s a target, and we should always be seeking to achieve greater democratic freedom than where we currently stand. It doesn’t just stop at having the permission to vote in an election.
Yeah sure, as a Canadian citizen, I have the opportunity to vote in an election every few years, whether it be at the municipal, provincial, or federal level. But what good is my vote when all of the possible candidates essentially represent the exact same thing — prolonging the status quo by upholding the capitalist system responsible for nearly all of the major crises we currently face. Is it truly democratic freedom when we only have the illusion of choice since there are no other viable alternatives?
Even the format of elections in Canada — First Past the Post — means that I am often forced to vote “strategically” rather than ideologically or based on my particular set of values because all that matters is who will win the majority in my given riding. So instead of my vote resulting in genuine representation in leadership or at the decision-making table, I’m often forced into situations where I must vote for the lesser of two evils. It’s no wonder why only 59.5 and 62.5% percent of Albertans and Canadians voted in the last two provincial and federal elections, respectively. If your vote doesn’t matter, why bother? It’s not apathy if people don’t have any options that represent their beliefs or values.
And yes, I acknowledge that some options are qualitatively better than others, but that doesn’t make them good options. The lesser of two (or more) evils is still evil. I don’t think that electing a Liberal, Conservative, or NDP government is going to have a positive impact on my day-to-day life. We will continue to pursue economic growth (i.e., private profits) at all costs while inequality continues to rise and the natural ecosystems that we rely on are continually degraded for the sake of private riches. None of Canada’s major political parties are putting forward any sort of coherent alternatives to business as usual. But yes, I do agree that the Conservatives (or the PPC) are more harmful because of their open embrace of anti-science (e.g., climate change denial, vaccine skepticism), anti-immigration, and anti-LGBTQ2S+ views among other nonsense.
What is democratic about watching the Canadian state uphold its support for its imperialist allies (the United States and Israel) as they commit blatant acts of genocide against the people of Palestine, while publicly speaking out against and/or protesting it could get me arrested or cost me my career? And what about Indigenous land defenders within Canada’s own borders who are arrested for resisting colonial resource extraction on their Traditional Territories? Are those examples of a truly democratic and free society?
I don’t think you can call someplace a genuine democracy when everyday working people have no control over the look or feel of their lives. When all our major political parties represent capitalism, that means that regardless of who we elect, all of us will continue to work 40 or more hours every single week, for most of our lives, just to earn a meagre wage in the hopes that it’s sufficient to meet our basic needs of food, shelter, communication, healthcare etc. Voting doesn’t fix the reality that our basic needs as well as our labour will continue to be exploited for private gain. Most of our lives are all the same, whether you work in a physical factory or an email factory, there’s hardly any difference anymore. Capitalism has made life sterile, homogenous, repetitive, and boring. Every week it’s suddenly Monday again and I’m tired of it.
Without collective, democratic control over the way we meet our needs as a society (i.e., the knowledge, infrastructure, technology etc.) we have very little say in how we live our lives. We have no control over what we produce, how it’s produced, who benefits from our productive activities, and how those benefits are distributed. The “free market” decides, and that market is dictated solely by the owners of capital and our political leaders — across all parties — who enable them.
Liberal democracy is bullshit, and voting is a scam that distracts us from taking real, on-the-ground, direct action to resolve our problems. Democracy is more than a vote, it’s the ability to speak out, to protest, to strike. Democracy is something we need to continually strive for. We do have the power to change the world, but we cannot just vote our way out of capitalism if we want things to change. Those of us who wish for a different world for future generations must build that future through organizing and working together, because resistance is only possible if we do so collectively. There’s more of us than there are of them, but majority rule is only possible if you can first see yourself as part of this majority.
