On Democracy

Last night, I was hanging out with some friends. We were eating camembert, drinking beer (I know, I’m a cliché, and I don’t care)… I was having a really good time.

Then, a “debate” started. I don’t remember how it came up, but we started to talk about democracy. We, as French students, are supposed to support that kind of system. But, as French students, we’re also supposed to be against everything. And it turned out that some of my friends chose the second way. “I don’t like democracy, democracy made George W. Bush president, democracy made TF1 the number one TV channel in France. I don’t think it’s a good system.”. How easy.

Attention reader : you’re about to read some shitty writing by a French Computer Science student.

My friend is partly right. Yes, democracy elected George W. Bush, and that’s not cool. Democracy also means TF1 is the leading French TV channel (TF1 is our own version of Fox).

Why do I say “easy” then? Because criticism is the easiest thing to do. Offering a viable alternative is the hard thing to do.

Democracy means that every citizen gets to say something. Every votes counts. What’s the alternative? Having some sort of an elite, a minority that decides for the majority. We used to have that in France. We put an end to it in 1789. Before that year, only educated people could take decisions. Some people actually miss that time. I don’t.

Yes, democracy means that Arte (our HBO, but without money…) will never be the most watched TV channel. But who are we to judge other people likes and dislikes? Democracy means that you can do pretty much anything you want and say anything you want, as long as you respect thou neighbour! So yes, it’s the best system, and if your really think we should go back to a “despotisme éclairé”, like Voltaire promoted, maybe you should think about that : what if you’re not in the elite that’ll rule your country? What if you just have to shut up and do what you’re told to do?

Remember this famous quote from Tocqueville:

In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.

Damn… I can’t conclude with a quote, can I?

To my friends : I love you guys, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve dropped out if you weren’t here. Next semester is gonna be hard without you.

To you, reader : please remember that English is my second language, neither of my parents can speak a word of it, but I truly welcome any remark about my style and grammatical mistakes.