Democracy and Free-Will

Democracy goes back to the early Greek Civilization; it isn't an invention of modern governance. Democracy has played a role at various times throughout history especially in the countries that now practice democracy as their way of governance. Sometimes it may look a little haphazard like the Trucker Convoy in Ottawa last month that had to be forced out by the use of the Emergency Measures Act - first time to use it since it was passed in 1988. But tempers were frayed by the restrictions of COVID and people simply forgot to follow the rule of law and be nice during the demonstration. Hence the need to force them out and give life back to the thousands who were being treated wrongly by the protestors who had literally dug in on Parliament Hill. Life will never be quite the same in my home town likely of Ottawa. 

But democracy feeds on the free-will of the people and that can sway in various directions at various times for various reasons creating a different government presenting in parliament at various times. It is good for the health of a democracy to have change; it is healthy for people to experience changes in the way that governance is directed. It is good for business to have that extra infusion that very often a new government brings with it. Promises are made during election that must be kept or you will lose the next election. That is perhaps the real bonus of democracy; the power of the people to create change.

Communism, on the other hand, aims to provide everyone with a good life. That is pure communism as created by Karl Marx. It was a nice dream but in practice it hasn't done that although China, on the one hand, has done an excellent job of bringing their population into the modern world by supporting free enterprise and small business development. Their people have benefited greatly. Their ability to protest though still appears to be very limited and I assume that if you are not a party member then you belong to some sort of a tiered system where there are more benefits for being a party member. Perhaps one day a Communist country will take on the project of explaining why their system is better than democracy. I like the idea that education is free in a communist system. I was able to afford to pay for my education at university with no debt but I think the betterment of society is achieved when education is free. 

When I think that there should be a minimum income it isn't because I am unable to afford to live it is because minimum income benefits both the receiver and the area in which they reside. On a minimum income you are spending most or all of it in your area so the tax base in that area benefits from your minimum income. There is far more incentive to be part of a community if you are able to afford it.  I do not see that as communism, rather I see it as an investment in the people in our country who lack the skills to get a good job or their mental health restricts their ability to be part of the community or they have fallen on bad times and need a boost up. Does communism provide such a system? Karl Marx certainly supported that idea but I am not sure it was ever incorporated into either the Soviet Union under Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov alias Lenin or China under Mao Tse-tung. It appeared that everyone worked for a meagre amount of money and the Communist Party managed all the people with members being able to become supervisors or the like. But in a country which has been broken by war there has to be a starting point; I prefer the starting point be a democracy as it incorporates the free will of the people to move to the type of governance that they wish to experience. I just do not know if the present day governance practised in Russia which was communist but now a dictatorship or China  as a communist state is built on the original thoughts of Karl Marx. 

But democracies are not soft and Hitler learned that to his sorrow. Anyone going up against democracy is fighting human free-will and the thousands of years of human history can tell you that free-will always wins in the end. As hard as one tries to destroy free-will; it is part of the human soul. 

So it would be very nice if President Putin would order his military out of Ukraine and stop murdering them and also give the Russian people a chance to thrive and not just the oligarchs in Russia. 

Protest is good in a country; there are lots of things that are protested about that I have never even thought about but hearing the points put forward I do tend to see the value if there is one and as a country we have changed over the 76 years that I have lived. However, one must control the protest so as not to break the laws or inconvenience people in the area which you are occupying for your protest. The notion that these people will support you is ridiculous. I just want them to unleash the power of the Emergency Measures Act and get rid of the protest if there is ever another one like the Truck Convoy. There are lots of protests in Ottawa but normally the people protest and then they go home and take whatever they brought with them like the farmers with their tractors is a good example. But we are back to healthy protests once again.