True
Respect for Democracy.
by Steven
Shamrak.
Maybe because I was born and raised in
dictatorial Communist country, like the former Soviet Union, I feel a special
admiration and respect for the ideals of democracy that are practiced in the
USA and, to a degree, in Israel. I have the same respect for the executive
offices of the President and the PM. Unfortunately, the people who are elected
to these offices quite often do not reach the level of integrity these
positions demand!
Every day of my life I used to live
surrounded by political propaganda in a country where brainwashing of the
population was the principal survival preoccupation of the government. Every
member of Soviet society was an active or silent participant of this
dehumanisation machinery which affected 270 million people.
Therefore, I am able to see and feel with
heightened sensitivity the abuse of the power, manipulation of the public and
enormous level of corruption that are being perpetrated by unscrupulous
officials, who are only serving the self- and special-interest groups which put
them in the office of power: the United State, Europe and Israel! Fortunately,
Muslim and Arab states have not reached a level of such hideous sophistication.
It is my high level of respect for
democracy that compels me to speak out and expose corruption. Democracy demands
free expression of opinion and accountability of the leadership. It was
practiced freely during the early days of French revolution and even during the
Russian revolution in 1917, but was lost because public allowed self-serving
opportunists to take over of their lives!
It is a moral duty of any self-respecting
person, especially those living in a democratic society and who cherish its
values (where they are not at the risk of losing their life and the right of
freedom of speech is supported, so far, by actionable laws) to speak out and
defend their rights and keep political hypocrisy and corruption accountable.
Capitulation to the abuse of power and corruption results in a high level of apathy
and feeling of personal insignificance among the public. It ultimately destroys
democracy!
True democracy not only requires freedom
of expression and accountability, it needs them for self-preservation! Silence,
apathy and false political correctness are disrespectful and mortally dangerous
to democracy!