Are Democracies the Best Form of Government?

Growing up, I never really questioned the government, nor did I question the way in which we did things. This is probably because 1) I was too young and 2) I couldn’t care less. But now I’m much older, I’ve come to realize that I didn’t question the rules because the rules never shaped my life and I lived in what I considered ‘freedom’ also known by some politicians as a ‘democracy.’ The dictionary definition for a Democracy is “the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves.” In other words, a democracy is a country in which the power is held by a few ministers of prime who were elected by the public.

Having grown up in a democratic country I didn’t really know much to question the authorities. I’d just see the polling stations on the way to and from school, not really knowing what they were and simply waiting for the BBC to announce the new government every 4 years. Not that it made a difference to my life in the slightest. But it was around the time I started Year 5 that I noticed the dreaded three-letter word written on many documents and websites. At first it was just another word to add to my vocabulary, and that too not a very spectacular or exciting one to use in my homework and impress the teachers. Yet as it repeatedly came up, it began sticking out like a sore thumb. Little did I know that this small was what our country and many other democracies around the world were built from. “T... A... X.” I found 2 definitions of tax in the dictionary: 1) “a sum of money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services, levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc.” and 2) “a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand.” I can assure you that the second definition sounds more satisfying to people.

At a young age it is not really something we care about, however our parents definitely do. In the UK, the tax bracket is 47%, France 41% and USA 24%. Like why should we hound a

whopping 47% of our hard-earned money to the government? Well the tax revenue is how democracies get their government spending money and in turn they are supposed to give back to the citizens via means of insurance on aspects such as healthcare and social security. Which is surely a positive. Isn’t it? I mean it has to be since a good majority of the 66 million Brits, 67 million French, 325.7 million Americans and millions of other democratic citizens have understood and accepted the fact that they must pay taxes. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is the best way for a country to run. In fact, it doesn’t even mean that democracies are efficient at all.

Winston Churchill once said: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."Basically that democracy has many flaws and problems, but all the others have more problems. But authoritarian countries such as China are potentially challenging this assumption by proving that authoritarian regimes are better at creating economic growth. Is Democracy still the best form of government? I think not.

While Democracies provide freedom, representation of the people, have better governance due to transparency and respect and promote Human Rights, there are many factors of autocracies that outdo these numbered successes.

One example of an autocracy is the infamous and sometimes controversial concept of

Communism. Public or community ownership is the main feature of Communism. This

involves a classless society in which everyone is equal and there is equitable distribution of

resources and benefits, i.e. people share everything. To achieve this in for example at the time of the Communist USSR, people earning very little were tax free but if you earned too much, the tax rates could go as high as 81%. Communists are driven by the ideology of achieving a social utopia, known as Socialism – an idea that is so great that you can only imagine it and consequently it remains just that – an unachievable concept. However, it honestly depends on the desires of every individual. E.g. a very wealthy person would rather cherish their wealth in luxury and live in the freedom of democracy than have all their wealth 'donated’ to the Communist state. Likewise, a poor person would prefer the comfort of equality in class and provisions offered in a Communist state, rather than be burdened by taxation and possibly end up homeless in a money-driven Capitalist state.

A great example of this is my previous History teacher. She is beyond intelligent and grew up

in the Communist state of Yugoslavia under the dictatorship of Marshal Tito. She was offered a teaching position as a Professor at the Ivy League Harvard University. She went there for a few months but came back because she didn’t like it! This seemed shocking to me, having lived in a Democratic society all my life, thinking that we’re ‘obviously the best.’ But cases like this show that we’re clearly not. Life in Communist Yugoslavia being better than being a Professor at Harvard University! Thoughts like this don’t even cross the snobby Capitalist mind who believe they’ve already achieved a universal monopoly, but rather this is far from reality.

Jaithun Afrin Jubair Ali