@baconlover
First of all let me apologize for accusing you of flaming the thread...It was surely uncalled for...I hope you will accept my apology and we can debate like civilized folks
> deckingraj: would you mind sharing why democracy won't work in india??
Ummmm..Actually i was saying that it will work in India...Its you who said that for democracy to work you need to have a society which is "
wealthy, well-off (this, IMO, is most critical), homogeneous, well-educated, highly advanced society.".... Now my counter argument was if you have all that why the heck you need democracy for?? Isn't that what the intention of any system??? I will prefer socialism or for that matter any system(actually not if democracy can provide the same) that can result in ""wealthy, well-off (this, IMO, is most critical), homogeneous, well-educated, highly advanced society."... I hope you see my point....
I'm sorry you see it as flaming, I didn't intended it to.
(actually "Bhaarat" started with the "strong words" --- you didn't read his post (#102), did you ?)
I did and thats why apologized...
US is a bit of "sheeplecracy" too, heck we just might get Palin/Beck in 2012!
Well lets c...though i have no voting power in US but if i get i will never vote for republican's....
You know the US, you know your own India better than me --- if you don't know the "why ?" then I'm not incline to type it out here.(actually I already pointed out).
Honestly i don't know the "WHY"..Why democracy won't work in India?....
Basically, my point is: for TRUE (repeat TRUE) democracy to really work, it has requirements. It's no "magic pill".
So now, you ---> Think!
You are absolutely right...For a true democracy to work you have requirements....Even a child knows that...I mean if there is a poor man who knows nothing about his/her rights or being illitrate don't know what the heck democrary is...or for that matter has far more grave issues like housing..clothing..food etc etc how do you expect him/her to care about democracy vs such issues???
However my point of argument is how do you reach there??? In other words at what point you introduce democracy in your society....Please note this is not a simple system to implement...Once you implement it you learn from it and keep on improvising...Sometimes couple of generations don't get to see the true results/benefits of democracy....For that matter india is a democracy of only 62 years...
The most shining examples of working democracy have been who ? US, and Britain right ?
Think now - how did these 2 countries get to those "requirements" ? Are they all like geniuses ? blessing from God ?
No they are not all geniuses or have blessing from god....They worked hard for it....
* Who did the British Empire colonize, enslave and exploite to get to that ?
* Where did the US get this most wonderful piece of land from ? where did US get all that labor force required to build from a virgin land to industrial super power ?
That's where my friend you are a bit wrong....With imperialistic ideology you can very well win Lands..countries but you cannot create a "wealthy, well-off (this, IMO, is most critical), homogeneous, well-educated, highly advanced society.".....That's where you need to come up with a system which can help you achieve that...be it socialism...be it democracy...be it anything else...Now all systems have pros and cons and if i look into history you will find democracy have scored over Socialism...The point i am trying to make is that US introduced democracy(though not in absolute terms) much before they were industrial super power. If you look at the 19th centuary statistics of US you will see poverty...slums..hunger and all the issues that developing world is facing(though they still have yet not at alarming rate as compared with countries like India)...
Now you and I can argue about the rise of America/Britain vs other democratic societies and that's where your points are valid....However i would like to bring one more example before you...Germany...A country who lost both the world wars...never successfully able to colonize any part of the world....is the most successful country in the whole of Europe...I would also like to bring to your attention to the contrasting difference between east(socialist) and west (democratic) Germany before the fall of berlin wall(though the difference is still there but east is catching up)
They cheated and now they can act all "classy" and honorable. Hypocrites
That my friend is debatable... Though my heart is with you on this yet my mind says they did what was considered right at that time but wrong now....i.e. Extreme Nationalism - MY nation right or wrong...
Here's a link for you
History of democracy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia