Democracy

JOY JOY JOY!

The children lost in the Colombian jungle have been found alive after forty days. ( Wasn’t there something in the Bible about 40 days? Oh yes: “40 days is mentioned in the Bible more than 20 times– some in the Old Testament and some in the New Testament” Per crosswalk.com)

When reading the remarkable news about the brave 13-year-old elder sister, Lesley, who managed to keep herself and all three younger siblings alive (ages 9, 4 and 11 months), one comes to appreciate the wisdom of her deceased mother–killed in the plane crash–for knowing and conveying the information about which fruits and seeds in the jungle could be eaten and which looked similar but were deadly.

Just after the plane crashed deep in the Colombian jungle and with all the adults aboard killed including their mother,* the children had to walk away, but wisely took the supply of farina from the wreckage.

After the fariña ran out, they began to eat seeds and fruit, even the 11-month old sibling, who had a first birthday during the–what should we call it–incident, escape, journey, traumatic event?

An indigenous tribesman found the children on the fortieth day of the search, upon hearing the baby’s cries from the jungle growth. The military, civilians and native tribespersons had continued the search for days, until the children were found alive but weak and tired. The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, became personally involved in rescue efforts and appears to have orchestrated the continuous search.

*As a postscript, Lesley was later quoted as saying her mother had lived four days, and urged them to leave. What a heartbreak.

From <https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/11/2174709/-After-Plane-Crashes-In-The-Amazon-13-Year-Old-Keeps-Siblings-And-1-Year-Old-Alive-For-Forty-Days> Plus many other sources via Google.

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CURIOUS ABOUT….

What kind of leader Gustavo Petro is, I found that his country, Colombia, is labeled a “flawed democracy” by The Economist Democracy Index.The definition and ratings come from The Economist Democracy Index, as reported on Wikipedia, and is widely cited in the international press as well as in peer-reviewed academic journals.

More curious about how other countries are seen worldwide, I found flawed democracies defined on Wikipedia as nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honored but may have issues. “These nations can have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.[” [I bet issues in the functioning of government got us], because in the most recent index, the US was listed as a flawed democracy, along with Colombia and 46 other countries or territories in the world.

Figuring into the ranking overall includes

“Whether national elections are free and fair”;
“The security of voters“;
“The influence of foreign powers on government”;
“The capability of the civil servants to implement policies”.

According to the index, in 2022 of 167 countries or territories in the world there were 24 Full Democracies. . In descending order, they are:

Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Taiwan, Uruguay, Canada, Luxembourg, Germany, Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, United Kingdom,Chile, Austria, Mauritius, France, Spain, South Korea

Hats off to them all.

From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index> and others.

The site makes a great knowledgeable and historical read.

I’m still thinking about that Harper’s issue last month that had experts discussing (among other things) Liberalism versus Democracy. I wanted to discuss and recommend it, but there were too many fancy words in it I didn’t really know, so I thought I’d clarify the words first, with the help of Wikipedia. They all talked about “demos,” and out-of-date-me thought they must mean the Democrats, but it turns out it means the populace, as used in ancient Greece…I’m re-writing a book, so haven’t time to look up so many fancy words, and perhaps you don’t either…i.e., “instantiation,” etc. They’re all experts I tell myself. I may be just as unintelligible while writing something on psychology, but I’m not sure.

I was really fuzzy on a lot of the words: autonomy, telos, dialectical, counter-majoritarian institutions, etc.
I never wondered about the word Liberty, , and was surprised to learn it has a different meaning than democracy. I was glad not to notice the word “freedom,” since it has been so differently used.

I looked up Liberalism and Democracy, and with its use in the Harper’s article the difference is that Liberalism focusses on the humanity of all, being equal as human beings and democracy meaning being ruled by the people, without reference to which people. (Remember that not so long ago women were not allowed to vote in our democracy, and there has been a movement afoot to limit the democratic participation in voting by blacks. Sorry, I don;t have time to think of a better word for blacks). Now that’s the definition I arrived at, in my own words. Argue with me if you know how to comment upon comment.

In the article Francis Fukuyama pointed out that Abe Lincoln, in the Declaration of Independence, chose liberty as a higher principle than even democracy: All men are created equal. He’s saying that “democracy can be trumped by a higher principle–which is this principle of equality.”

And it seems to me that Liberalism is what used to be referred to as brotherly love. More anon

P.S. Late edit: Just came across a good example of something that is not an example of Liberalism: An Alaskan Republican Representative serving in Alaska was censured by the entire house (except for his vote) for trying to find something positive about child abuse that results in death of the child: “In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child. But it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needs for government services and whatnot over the whole course of that child’s life?”
Daily Kos reported this from BBC Feb. 24, 2023