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!