The Church Should Never be Democratic

DEMOCRATIC SPACE - Empty Space?

A vacuum always seeks to be filled'

Democracy is by definition a disenfranchisement of minorities and the marginalised, a 'tyranny of numbers' and I dare say a very lofty ideal. And what's to be said of its leaders? Debatable; What's there to write home about someone who is a 'leader' at the expense of all of democracy's trappings: media-prepped candidates spouting slick infomercials, elaborately staged conventions, processions of new branded SUVs and road show trucks, delegates in straw hats wearing buffoonish buttons and hoisting hyperbolic banners, T-shirts, scarves (lesos) handouts, cash and alcohol charged rallies, and everywhere, polls, polls, polls (mostly paid for) reporting and interpreting the latest twitch of the body politic. And of course the slimiest of all; violent attacks on rivals and their supporters. And when the filth subsides, and a 'victor' emerges - the campaign victory parties and inaugural balls, in their opulence and sublime indifference to the vanquished? Doesn't this suggest a decadence that seems somehow beneath dignity?

In Kenya, conservative estimates have been put at between 75 to 100 million dollars to run a presidential campaign. That in itself is the single most excluding factor of modern day democracy. Even with the expected fund raising, few individuals can stage a presidential campaign in most African countries, and by implication excluding some of Arica's most brilliant minds. It's no wonder that Africa is slowly becoming a continent of monarchies disguised as democracies.

Robert Mugabe recently got elected into the chairmanship of the African Union; His now infamous fall, testament to his frailty and age brought to focus his long strangle hold onto power. Apparently this was the least of concerns for the African heads of states in Addis Ababa. And neither are these the concerns of Zimbabwean people I may add; I recently visited Harare and 'Bob' is well liked there truth be told. He does have his critics, but who doesn't, he has some skeletons in the closet, some well-known to the public, who doesn't? Furthermore the people that really matter, the Zimbabweans, at least 'the majority', are 'willing' to turn a blind eye to Bob's 'little' shortcomings; which by the way may just include senility and paranoia: He recently fired his vice president 'Ngwena' for attempting to 'bewitch' him with tadpoles. 

Bob's election into the AU chairmanship really got me thinking about the relevance of 'The Democratic Space' especially in Africa where it just seems expedient; which African country has not tolerated its own 'Mugabe'? And now the leaders seem to have endorsed this indifference. Let's for arguments sake, consider democracy a little further, its merits and demerits, and its alternatives, and also some varied viewpoints, including my very own prejudiced, possibly misplaced opinion. And let's go even further, let's benchmark these civic structures; is there a Christian prescribed structure of civic government? Which models do churches adopt? All these musings notwithstanding, I hope that that we don't lose sight of this interminable testament: Jesus Christ is Lord; that is the first and final assertion we Christians make about all of reality, including politics.

Since the US is the foremost guardian of democracy let's start with the vision that the American patriarchs had:

 

The American Dream – A Strife for the Ideal

The American Declaration of Independence second paragraph starts: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, [and] that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . ."

That's fine at first glance, but only at first glance. People are certainly not created equal. Some people are Nobel Laureate astrophysicists and others can barely read. Some people struggle to walk but others can ski downhill backwards. Some people are autistic, some are athletic, some are witty, some are wasted by disease. I think that 'Equality' should start with the marginalized accepting that they are indeed 'unequal' and pursue inclusion instead of equality.         ……… read more.