No Tanks And No Blood In The Streets
Australia awoke this morning with a new government.
While one side rejoices, the other mourns.
For me, a ‘swinging voter’, one who doesn’t subscribe to either side’s doctrine, it’s reassuring to see that I indeed live in a mature democracy.
There was no curfew to keep people off the streets. There were no riots, and no opposition leaders were imprisoned. The army wasn’t called in either…
The incumbent graciously accepted the peoples’ decision, and the winner paid tribute to the loser.
Such is life in a mature democracy, and one to be appreciated, guarded and nurtured!
The Thanksgiving holiday in the US looks back to a time of new settlement, survival, and the birth of democracy.
Australia really needs to be thankful for what it has as a nation as well!
One can only wonder what life is like in a country such as Pakistan, where the constitution isn’t strong enough to prevent the president grabbing more power.
China, with it’s one party government, and oppression of human rights, and Russia, which seems to hover somewhere between the soviet era and democracy are also food for thought.
Iraq shows that democracy can’t be forced on a country with tanks and guns, while in Burma, democracy is still a foreign concept!
Burma: the place where the monks were protesting in way back in… September?
The trouble with living in a mature democracy is that it is just so easy to be comfortable and to take freedom for granted.
Whether you are in The US, Germany, Japan, Australia, New Zealand or Britain, just to name a few of the world’s democracies, it’s time to be thankful.
And it’s time: to protest the lack of basic human rights in other nations, and to nurture, protect and promote the democratic freedoms that we enjoy!