Democracy

I notice that a lot of people confuse the concept of democracy with the state of freedom from various forms of oppression [Hardly unexpected, for the neural networks in our brains are basically just elaborate systems of association maps which correlate the firings in our brain which constitute different concepts, memories, emotions and other thoughts...].

Some countries are relatively democratic and the citizens enjoy relative freedom from oppression (Australia, Canada, Sweden etc). In other countries, citizens enjoy freedom from oppression, but live in a non-democratic environment (something closer to Hong Kong), and, in other countries, citizens are neither particularly free, nor is there a democracy (eg Saudi Arabia, Sudan). I admit that there is a strong correlation between freedom from oppression and the level of democracy in a country, but it is still isn't useful to conflate the two concepts.
Dictionary definitions of democracy tend to usually mention "majority rule", or the rule of representatives elected by the people and for the people. An incredibly vague definition when you think about it, but good enough for most purposes. Basically, we think that each person should at least have an equal say in determining which party is elected, come election time.

Surely this involves political parties not being allowed to accept donations from the public? From any type of institution, donations clearly motivate politicians not to govern in the interests of the general body of people, but on behalf of those that they receive money from, and especially those which helped them be elected. It's stupid, and it's certainly doesn't foster democracy. I don't know how the hell this practice could ever be justified, it doesn't smoothe the practical functioning of any democracy. But what irritates me is how easily people are seduced by gushing speeches from politicians about how great our democracy is, when, in fact, some citizens clearly have a far greater say in how the country is run than others by virtue of their greater wealth.

Even if you falsely believed that you had a say in who was elected, if you're poor you've got absolutely no chance of influencing the policies that the winning party actually implements when it gets in to power. All you can do is lodge a protest vote at the next election, which will simply hand power to another party who will also only listen to those that give it money...not a lot of voting power you have there, unless you've worked or bought your way to a position where you can donate money or advise the government....just like in Communist states where everyone tries to work for the government because of the priviledges one receives.
If you want to celebrate the fact that you live in Australia instead of in Saudi Arabia or Sudan, do so because you are relatively free from oppression in Australia, and enjoy a higher living standard in Australia. It is irrational pride to celebrate the democratic nature of our country, because we, like just about every other democratic country, have never been particularly democratic. Not that it's necessarily stupid for some to have more say than others; experts in science or history or anything else have to have more input on most matters than regular people (and perhaps the motivated deserve more influence than the apathetic), but the practise of donations [bribes] must stop.

While we're at it, it should be made illegal for political parties of any type to spend public money on advertising. It's so annoying to see the hundreds of millions of dollars pour down the drain in the lead up to the Australian election on politicians trying to get themselves re-elected.
There's no conceivable reason why citizens would want to pay to watch propaganda, unless that propaganda was bankrolled by people who want certain politicians to get in because they'll work for their agenda. And at the Ministry of Truth website, there are some good suggestions for making politicians more accountable for proven misinformation about facts. Another interesting website: http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/democracy.html

How strong is our democracy? Stronger than in say, Egypt, or Sudan, or China. But perhaps that's not enough to be proud of it, particularly if it may be weakening. Let's make these changes, and take further incremental steps towards a better democracy...

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Scared monkeys hold each others' penises. I can't help but find that really weird