Please don't misunderstand me,
I will always be glad that the vote
has been given to so many,
and it is up to them to choose the few
who will go on to lead them,
along with choosing the remainder
who will be the opposition,
forever preparing themselves
to be the government of the future.
What nobody should do, though,
is conflate the universal franchise
with the idea of democracy itself.
What is the difference?
When the right to vote is combined
with one candidate who forces others
to stand down, then that is autocracy,
ably supported by oligarchy or plutocracy,
often backed with arms. It is not democracy,
so the leader can be sincerely undemocratic.
When voters have a choice of parties
to vote for, and their policies are packaged
via a media that breaks down under pressure
then, at best, what the voter has compare
is the depth of insincerity of each party.
*the catch phrase of one time television presenter
and would-be right wing demagogue Hughie Green,
for whom Opportunity did not just knock, but glue
it's finger to the doorbell, and press very hard,
long after it should have stopped doing so.
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