Democracy

Democracy is an elusive concept. Democracy has various forms and might be interpreted differently by various users depending on their respective motives. Why should I believe in those who use the term in their slogans during political campaigns?

In Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (New York: Harper Colophone Books, 3rd ed., 1950, pp. 284-285), Joseph Schumpeter wrote: "Democracy does not mean and cannot mean that the people actually rule in any obvious sense of the terms ‘people’ and ‘rule.’ Democracy only means that people have the opportunity of accepting or refusing the men who are to rule them.” People may have that opportunity, but who actually governs is certainly not the multitude. Another question is that even when granted the right to accept or to refuse their representatives, can people actually change or influence the rulers' ideologies and values which shape their policy decisions and the social economic consequences? (as discussed by Larry Bartels in his Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age(New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008).

I am really skeptical about the multitude's capability in "ruling" or "governing," although I believe they play an dispensable role in any socio-political change. Without the participation of the multitude, there cannot be any reform nor revolution. Besides education, people need good leadership.