I've just finished a 958 page book called The Life and Death of Democracy By John Keane, professor of politics, University of Westminster, and founder of the Center for the Study of Democracy.

Despite its daunting bulk, the title of the book intrigued me and I can now say that anyone, and everyone, possessing an interest in democracy should read it, for it contains the most thorough and enlightening writings about the concept and the history of democracy I have ever read.

It seems that, unlike common western thought that democracy was born in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, written accounts of such thoughts of freedom from the oppression of arrogant dictators, kings, warlords, and aristocratic elites have been found in the lands of the Middle East and India; accounts written long before the birth of Greece.

Mr. Keane divides the evolution of Democracy into three periods:
(The Past) Assembly Democracy of Athens and those earlier times and lands further East.
(The Present) Representative Democracy of the United States and the Caudillo (co-thee-yo) dictatorial democracies of Latin America.
(The Future) Monitory Democracies refers to government monitored and influenced by citizen assemblies, workplace tribunals, public interest litigation, bloggers, activists and one hundred and one other forms of citizen involvement.

Mr. Keane surmises that the Monitory period will lead to the death of traditional democracies: But the facts show that monitoring groups in all such so-called "democracies" have only limited success in changing the consequences of government policies. This simply means all existing "democracies" are biased toward the wealthy segments of their societies and abuse the common citizens of the societies.

Mr. Keane conveniently skirts around the obvious truth that there is only one form of true democracy and that is self-government of, by, and for the people—who are educated, and mature—and not an ignorant, emotionally undisciplined people such as found in most countries of 2010. The truth is that planet Earth has not yet seen a properly structured, true democracy operated by, for, and of all the people.

The truth is that there is little truth in the concepts of "social" democracy, "representative" democracy, "liberal" democracy, "aristocratic" democracy, "dictatorial" democracy, or any other kind of adjectival democracy. A democracy is either true democracy or it isn't. It is either a form of government in which all citizens are politically equal, and each, and every, citizen is politically active in the making of laws and policies affecting his, or her, life or it isn't a "democracy." The existence of various forms of "democratic" government simply means they are all false democracies.

Throughout the past five thousand years of recorded history, almost all governments have been hierarchical, patriarchal, top-to-bottom forms of government. This simply means a small group of elite males in every society has imposed their values and laws upon the masses of people lower on their society's social ladder.

But top-to-bottom societies have burdened planet Earth with class conflict, war after destructive war and deliberately induced poverty with its attendant illnesses of hunger, prostitution, and crime. They have also produced, within the minority elite at the top of all Earth's social structures, contempt for the intelligence and abilities of the masses who must work to survive—the masses, which do the things that keep a society alive and functioning, and without which all societies would perish.

What planet Earth has never seen is a properly structured bottom-to top government in which an educated, mature citizenry forms the values of their society and creates the laws and regulations affecting them, and under which they will live.

The American Institute of Direct Democracy is dedicated to the values and principles of Direct Democracy. Its mission is to inform all Americans how to properly structure a DD government and how it would work, what it can accomplish, and what it can't, and to help the American people transform their pseudo-democratic society into a true democracy.

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