Democracy

Message / Question

this is a bernie sanders type question... is democracy really better than communism? if you look at our comrades in china they seem to be doing quite well economically... other authoritarian economies like singapore also have great growth. i mean just compare india and china, india is a democracy, comparable population with china, and not doing as great. isnt the main problem with communism to do with rights, and isnt that based on morals and therefore religion?

Response

I could also refer you to North Korea! What is the best system of government? Without doubt, the ideal system is to have a benevolent dictator – the problem is, there aren’t any! If you think in terms of the way that the Kingdom of Heaven operates, that is a benevolent dictatorship (even though we prefer to call it “Theocracy”) and it is perfect, but as soon as man assumes such a position, the benevolence seems to wain and self interest rises. The next best system would have to be pure socialism – that’s what we read about in Acts, where they all had all things in common. Again, it sounds fine in theory, but it also fails because of the human sinful nature. Orwell described it well when he noted (in Animal Farm) that all are created equal, but some are more equal than others. Orwell’s comment shows the reason for the failure of socialism – it doesn’t work too well. It’s about a lot more than “rights”, it’s to do with lifestyle, health, education etc – so you could say that it’s about human rights rather than political rights.

India vs China is an interesting comparison. However, if you look closely, you will find the super rich and the super poor in both nations. The overall economy of China seems better than India, but its effect on the general / rural population doesn’t appear to be all that positive. Democracy has its weakness and failures, but stacked up against the other system of government, a democratic system is probably the fairest that fallen humanity is likely to achieve. Certainly, it’s not a perfect system and wealth and poverty can still happen, but overall it seems to be the “safest” and “fairest” form of government that we’ve managed to develop.