Gambia: Transformation of Socio-Cultures for Progressive Democracy

opinion

Democracy is the most desired governance style since the fall of communism/socialism. This is probably true even before the collapse of communism/socialism. People of the world cherish democracy because it is a system that acknowledges freedom of the individual as long as it did not infringe that of others. It is also a system that upholds the notion that "all Men are Created Equal" hence all citizens and residence of a country are equal before the law. Democracy is run on capitalism which recognizes the individual's potentials that become a driving incentive for competitive economic endeavors resulting to the attainment of living standards cherish by every living soul. However it is a difficult concept to grasps because it calls for equal opportunity for all and equality before the law. This is usually contrary to most traditional and cultural setups and it tends to reduce the powerful and influential to ordinary level.

United States probably has the best working democracy, although not perfect. They succeeded in instituting such a democracy mainly because of their history. The people who settled the 13 colonies that came to be US are runaways from different forms of suppressions in their original homes. That is why freedom and equality are most important in their collective endeavor. The constitution that made it was ratified in 1788 (a document of ages) and is only about 4/5 pages long. The Untied Sates has also help ensure a democratic Western Europe through an Economic package known as the Marshall Plan. These have slowed the expansion of communism and earn US reliable allies to advance its cause. Ironically, the US constitution failed to ban slavery even though some of the framers such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were both slave owners at the same time believers of the "all Men are created equal" doctrine. The point is that US is multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and over 100 million in population and yet still a 4/5 page document suffice its legal needs to measure each member to the same standard. Equally amazing is that US has the most complex federal system with different jurisdictions from federal to states to cities and towns and yet still a document of over two hundred years is more suitable than our 10 year old constitution.

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