Thomas Jefferson, a revolutionary and a founding father of America once wrote, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
Prophetic calls for liberty often come from the ruled, not from the ruler. However, decision makers in Washington have somewhat forgotten this message or have even misconstrued the meaning of liberty itself.
Over the last few decades, the West, led by the United States, has launched a campaign for the promotion of democracy as a vehicle for peace, liberty and stability in the regions torn apart by factional conflicts and civil war. It was welcomed and inspired by people over the world except within the minority of ruling elites in non-democratic regimes.
The pains of ruthless dictators were understandable when we hear their laments, criticizing the West on the grounds of imperialism, intervention and colonialism. Unfortunately the West has paid more attention to the laments of these few and ignored the applause of many. Deals have been made in the interests of a few in the exchange of vocal democracy, which is defined primarily by the ballot box and not liberty.
This is the paradox of democracy in the Middle East, South America, South Asia and Africa today. People live in fear of their own governments corrupted by wealthy few who own the nation’s wealth by exploiting the poor.
The colorful statistics about economic growth have been projected in daily televisions and newspapers. Beneath the illusion of doubling digits in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth lies the ever increasing gap between rich and poor, skyrocketing unemployment rate and degrading lands and polluted rivers.
Today nearly 40 percent of the world population lives on less than on two dollars a day and recent statistics from demographic surveys project that the global population will jump from the current 6.810 billion to 9.421 billion in the next four decades (by 2050).
If we fail to address the problem of poverty and hunger today, the situation will mutate into a massive disaster as the population increases. These problems cannot be easily solved by simply economic measures, maximization of the profits of those who own the global capitals.
The root of the problem is inherent in the institutional structure of governance and must be addressed by means of politics. The very meaning of the political institution is shifting its goal radically from the service of people to the agent of business corporations. I don’t think even Adam Smith could have imagined this radical transformation in the pursuit of materialistic goal and if he were alive today, he would be crying in grief.
However, these are the things that we seldom hear and see and more than often that not are the subject matter of concern. The occasional exercise of elections in the name of democracy is portrayed and seen as liberty and equality. This is the fallacy of imposition, as true democracy must come from human consciousness rather than external force and pressure.
The inflamed revolutions in the streets of yesterday’s Tehran to today’s Tunisia and Egypt are revelations to the myth of this imposition. The revolution has power to manifest itself beyond borders, culture and faith. This is the beginning of the end of the tyranny and is shielded beneath the shallow skin of democracy and dawning of liberty that is prophesied by Thomas Jefferson. History holds the secret of insatiable human greed for wealth and power and so do the limits. The inability to behold the limits is the foundation and root of self-destruction.
From the downfall of the Roman and Ottoman empires to the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union, we have witnessed the fragile foundation and suicidal nature of systems mastered by a corrupted few. The time has come to question the legitimacy of those ruling few at the top of the hierarchical pyramid and the wisdom of the systems they have constructed. Revolution is the call for their surrender, death of the legacy they have inherited and the birth of democracy dictated by the conscience of people in the pursuit of liberty. It is time to make the government fear for their own oppressed people because democracy is the power of people by principle and by definition.
Published on the Earlham Word, February 11, 2011
Engaging thought 
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