And here is another observation I have of today’s democracy. I have this idea that democracy is becoming the new religion, deity, or invisible friend. Bear with me on this one, and beware there is some generalisation going to be applied because it is a broad subject.

Traditionally religion has been one of the main tools to bind a society. Most countries were predominantly allied to one religion and that over-arching element was a major, if not the major, force that bound it’s people together. Of course there are other factors but religion is probably the most used major factor in the making of a national tribe.

Now fast forward to today and what do we have? Taking the UK as a very good example of the dilemma now facing our society and those who run it and want everyone to feel they belong to the tribe the over-arching religion model doesn’t work anymore because we are such a diverse group. We have become the classic melting pot of race, colour, and belief and having one sole religion to gather us all together is not going to work. Subsequently I now find democracy is being pushed to the front of the stage because it is the one thing that western governments can use as a focal point for people to hold onto regardless of race, colour, or belief. Thus democracy has become the new “religion”.

To back up my claim I have observed a shift. The UK, on an organisational level, does not recognise Christmas in the traditional sense anymore but rather it is a Happy Holiday with no religious overtones. For example I noticed last year the TV channels never got into the religious aspect of Christmas and the whole thing was redacted of the Jesus and Christ thing. It is as if the TV bosses got hauled in by the men in black and were told to stop with the religious angle because it is now just a holiday. If you don’t believe just wait a few weeks for the “happy holiday”.

So in the absence of one defining religion based on a godly element I sense that democracy is now being asked to fill the void for the purposes of nation building. Democracy is being hard sold at every opportunity, not only nationally but internationally. We now die for democracy rather than for our country. Afghanistan or Iraq wars are examples of fighting for democracy – we don’t fight for our country with our god at our side anymore. Syria is the latest example and wanting to bomb them was all about making democracy. The West has fallen in love with democracy so much that non-democratic countries are almost sinful.

I hope you get my drift on this and I hear you ask how does this fit with my previous post about the demise of democracy because of globalisation yet say democracy is the new religion. My answer to that is that the democracy we actually have is not real but the notion and ideology of it is very real, which sounds a lot like a religion to me, and it is that part we as a nation cling to and western governments sell and preach to us and other non-democratic countries.

In short democracy has become a deistic commodity. It is our invisible friend for nation binding..