by Stephen Bate

Created on: September 17, 2008

It is often said that democracy cannot flourish without freedom, and that freedom can never be truly achieved without democracy. How do these two main tenets of western society work so closely hand in hand to give us the lives we have today?

Democracy can be defined as a system where the wishes and will of the majority rule, but where the provisions are in place to ensure that a minority is not disadvantaged by this rule. Democracy, and a democratic process, gives us the mechanism to express our will, make our voices be heard, and change things if we feel that we are not being effectively listened to. The process elects answerable officials to do our bidding, so we all play our part and have a voice in the system.

The only truly effective way for this to work, and make the whole thing happen, is if we have complete freedom to express our views and speak our minds.

We are indeed fortunate in our society. We are able to stand up, express our opinions and make ourselves heard without fear of reprisal, censorship or silencing. It is our inalienable right to be able to make those views heard and to provoke debate on the issues that concern us. Indeed, differences of opinion and a debate on the "issue" is what makes democracy work. It makes the majority view raise itself to the surface, be heard, and have the officials act upon it.

The only thing that allows us to be unfettered in our ability to speak our minds and act as we want to is the basic principle of freedom. The only thing that makes a true democratic process work is the freedom to speak our minds, find our voices and act as we want to act. Of course, we must operate within the laws of the land, but the freedom to express ourselves is what encourages and provokes opinion, debate and change, which is the democratic process in action.

You only have to look at any society where censorship or restriction applies. Little public opinion is garnered in China, Iran or Zimbabwe, so the people there can never be free. For as long as the population is not free to express itself, democracy can never flourish. Political leaders use this censorship and restriction to impose dictatorial leadership and it can take many years to break free of this, even if the dictator is removed. Iraq is a case in point, where a balance in the views of the various parties is only now starting to emerge, after an explosion of new found freedom.

Democracy cannot work without freedom, but freedom cannot be felt if we do not have the democratic right or ability to change things.

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