There are - seemingly innumerable - politically inclined/motivated folk who 'just luv' democracy and everything associated with it...a system of political affairs whereby the [ever and endlessly eulogized] 'will of the people' is the end result...
...that is, I mean to say, whenever it happens to go the particular way they, in their heart of hearts, so wish...
Hey presto, as ye ole witchy-pooh might invoke that ancient incantation - abracadabra - there you have it folks! It's called/much better known...at least here 'down under' in these nether antipodean regions, anyhow...
as, voila: a clayton's democracy (no offence to various inlaws and outlaws who just so happen to share this as their lifelong surname!) Yes, as the old-fangled kiwi advertisement goes on to explicate: the democracy you get when you're not really getting a democracy...
And thus and so we readily see these days, whether the particular 'precipitating' issue/cause is, say,
tougher penalties for serious, egregious crime-doing, or to (dis)allow the parental smacking of kids,
the liberalization/decriminalization of laws pertaining to such disparate matters as same-sex marriage(s), cannabis smoking or just medical marijuana, euthanasia, abortion (and all the rest)
...or the ole perennial of water fluoridation...- heretofore using God's Own here as my chief focus, but expanding out into especially major Western nations worldwide, and thus incorporating such altogether different yet similarly contentious matters as Brexit (and American presidential elections)
the advocates/opponents of such tend to be extremely selective as to which particular electoral results they happen to believe are worthy of acceptance, and hence 'due and proper' legitimacy...
Yes, it's easy to support citizens' referenda, as long practiced and honed into something of an artform in the (seeming) national birthplace of such (Switzerland), or the (American) state of California...
when it all goes according to well-envisaged expectation and desired outcome...
while readily decrying those which just so happen to go against one's personal grain...
but folks, 'dat ain't da-mock-ra-see', if you'll excuse my pidgin English...
it's simply playing the game and accepting the rules when it all goes according to plan...
and then throwin' one's toys 'outta da cot' when(ever) it don't...
And so, though I'd be the first to concede that that doesn't always suit the particular side of the equation upon each and every one of the aforementioned issues - and so many others - that I personally happen to take...
it does strike me as much more common these days that the ones whose voices (and pens and mouses) are so specially strident for the time-honoured virtues of democracy...
seem to have a particular problem with, and get their sizeable knickers in the biggest and most complicated twists and knots, when they are presented with the reasonable enough expectation of meekly and humbly accepting the 'peoples' verdict'...
...when said 'verdict' goes against their particular prejudices...and, yes, pride...
...for I'd humbly submit that that is their especial problem at heart...
...that is, I mean to say, whenever it happens to go the particular way they, in their heart of hearts, so wish...
Hey presto, as ye ole witchy-pooh might invoke that ancient incantation - abracadabra - there you have it folks! It's called/much better known...at least here 'down under' in these nether antipodean regions, anyhow...
as, voila: a clayton's democracy (no offence to various inlaws and outlaws who just so happen to share this as their lifelong surname!) Yes, as the old-fangled kiwi advertisement goes on to explicate: the democracy you get when you're not really getting a democracy...
And thus and so we readily see these days, whether the particular 'precipitating' issue/cause is, say,
tougher penalties for serious, egregious crime-doing, or to (dis)allow the parental smacking of kids,
the liberalization/decriminalization of laws pertaining to such disparate matters as same-sex marriage(s), cannabis smoking or just medical marijuana, euthanasia, abortion (and all the rest)
...or the ole perennial of water fluoridation...- heretofore using God's Own here as my chief focus, but expanding out into especially major Western nations worldwide, and thus incorporating such altogether different yet similarly contentious matters as Brexit (and American presidential elections)
the advocates/opponents of such tend to be extremely selective as to which particular electoral results they happen to believe are worthy of acceptance, and hence 'due and proper' legitimacy...
Yes, it's easy to support citizens' referenda, as long practiced and honed into something of an artform in the (seeming) national birthplace of such (Switzerland), or the (American) state of California...
when it all goes according to well-envisaged expectation and desired outcome...
while readily decrying those which just so happen to go against one's personal grain...
but folks, 'dat ain't da-mock-ra-see', if you'll excuse my pidgin English...
it's simply playing the game and accepting the rules when it all goes according to plan...
and then throwin' one's toys 'outta da cot' when(ever) it don't...
And so, though I'd be the first to concede that that doesn't always suit the particular side of the equation upon each and every one of the aforementioned issues - and so many others - that I personally happen to take...
it does strike me as much more common these days that the ones whose voices (and pens and mouses) are so specially strident for the time-honoured virtues of democracy...
seem to have a particular problem with, and get their sizeable knickers in the biggest and most complicated twists and knots, when they are presented with the reasonable enough expectation of meekly and humbly accepting the 'peoples' verdict'...
...when said 'verdict' goes against their particular prejudices...and, yes, pride...
...for I'd humbly submit that that is their especial problem at heart...
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