Democracy

A crucial requirement in creating and consolidating a successful, stable democracy is that it must be indigenous. Meaning, it must be desired, designed, and driven by the people over which it will govern. Democracy can't be transplanted or dictated by an outside power. The most successful governments are those that are designed to serve and meet the needs of it citizenry. Similarly, the citizens must be committed to serving their democracy. If the people don't trust their government system or don't believe that it fulfills the purpose a government is created to serve, the system will collapse. It's a delicate balance that requires effort from all parties involved.

On the other hand, democracy is not necessarily an "organic" or natural occurrence that just falls in to place. While it has to happen from the ground up, it requires attention and determination; commitment and, often, compromise.

On the verge of the initiation of the next President of the United States, I've been thinking about what it takes for these complex social and political systems to succeed. At this point, you're probably beginning to think that this post belongs on my political musings site rather than my personal musings site. But at the risk of sounding cheesy, I really like the metaphor of building a democracy for building relationships. Relationships, like democracies, are volatile. They require the same determination and commitment for consolidation, and a certain amount of luck. Democracies, like relationships are about balancing conflicting viewpoints, prioritizing values, making compromises, and developing a trust between parties that allow them to operate relatively harmoniously within a shared proximity. Of course, the crucial difference between democracies and relationships is that when a relationship no longer functions as it should, the involved parties can walk away, especially in the beginning stages; in a democracy, it's not that simple.

Really, nothing is that simple though. The thing about relationships, interpersonal or socio-political, is that they are real. They are not a game. While we like to believe there are rules, both in politics and dating, few things are hard-and-fast. We have to be creative, flexible, and always, always gracious. This is life. How we interact individually, or on a grander scale as society, have consequences that echo farther than we can initially imagine.