Winston Churchill's quote about Democracy
By Sean McElhenny
Winston Churchill has been know for having many witty quotes and many of them to his secretary. But in this case he was talking about democracy. He stated that "...Democracy was the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." It is tongue in check as he is stating that really no form is government is great. He is stating that Democracy is pretty much the lesser of many evils.
This is more or less true as can be seen by the success of democracy worldwide. It is by far the best form of government we have today. One of the most important reasons is because the real power of the country is in the people not the government. That is why monarchies or dictatorships did not work. The power is vested into the masses and empowers the people that the government serves. This can be summed up by Abraham Lincoln “by the PEOPLE, of the PEOPLE and for the PEOPLE.” Often today people take this for granted but they do not realise how lucky they are. Another reason democracy is the best form of government is that it enhances the well being of the governed people. With democracy unlike dictatorship or monarchy comes a whole host of fundamental human rights. Freedom, equality, and justice are the main fundamentals of democracy. In countries with a democratic government people can believe in free expression and that each individual no matter the social standing have the same political status.
Rule of Law is another big ticket item that comes with democracy. In democracy rule of law prevails over all. No matter how rich or poor you are everyone is subject to rule of law. Even the President of the United States is under the rule of law, this is very different to dictatorships where the dictator in most cases is the law maker and is above his own laws. Democracy also means that when a mistake occurs in selecting government officials or a mistake in making the law there is room for error. This is because the democratic government is there to serve the masses and this means that if there is a corrupt official than the masses have a choice to change their decisions and oust him from office, this can only really happen in democratic governments. Democracy might not be the most efficient of government systems but it eliminates corruption with the checks & balances system and the separation of power. Checks and balances ensure that no one branch can become a dominant power because the other two branches have ways to control that one branch. Separation of power ensures that not one branch has all the powers of government. Each branch has its own unique power that branch only can use that power. In conclusion Democracy as Winston Churchill says is the lesser of many evils and is the best form of government we have and we will continue to use it until a better system is introduced.