Didine, could you forward to Håkan svp.?
Dear Håkan,
Re: Democracy
Direct democracy sounds great dude, but it does little good to protect minority interests. It exacerbates tensions between "factions" in society both minorities and majorities. Small groups - like ours - would always lose out if direct democracy were the way modern "democracy" functioned. Thankfully, we live in a world of representative democracies, parliamentary democracies/republics. This is what protects us from people like you, Håkan, who espouse simplistic understandings to promote agendas ahead of and with the hopes of bypassing the interests of others in society who may have conflicting yet not as popularly held opinions. Sorry buddy, not everyone is a sailor, boat owner, Mølle resident or local politician. You coexist in a region with people of varied interests and outdoors pursuits.
I am not a Swedish history buff but I do know a little about US history. Of course, I'm American, so I don't really know all that much!
Anyways, when our Founding Fathers were "framing" the constitution, there was much debate about states rights v. centralized power (Federalism). In Sweden, you could equate this with kommune and your own Swedish states and the central government. The many arguments for a powerful central authority to ensure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (or private property as it was) were codified in a series of arguments for a Federalist system called the Federalist Papers. That government, when democratically elected, protects people from local tyrannies like your own. (Okay, maybe its just the way you come of as being)
Federalist paper #10 written by James Madison, one of our Founding Fathers, "Father of the Bill of Rights" (the core of the US Constitution) and our 4th President, discussed the dangers of "factions" to democracy. In the paper, the "MAJORITY FACTION" constituted an unambiguous threat to individual liberty. Majority rule could easily suppress the will of the minority if this type of democracy had been adopted. Federalism and faith put in a larger, less local democracy sought to protect individual liberty. That's where we're coming from. Or maybe you just wish everyone were like you. Anyways, read Federalist 10, look it up on Wikipedia or Google it. Hit up your Montesquieu again if you hate Americans. But be proud of your democratic heritage the way it was intended, not as the way you see practical.
Alex
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_No._10
