Real Democracy

How do you tell the difference between a real democracy and a fake one?

How do you tell the difference between a democracy and a non-democracy?

How do you define democracy?

What, if any, is the relationship between real democracy and real philanthropy, in your view?

Perhaps you have not really thought about the above questions particularly deeply before.

Meanings are often taken for granted or merely assumed.  That is particularly the case with assumptions about shared meanings.

What is real politics, from your point of view, and how does it relate to real democracy and real philanthropy?

Perhaps you are mainly here seeking answers rather than questions to answer.

How do you tell when an answer is mainly a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact?

What do you know about real journalism in relation to facts, opinions, politics and philanthropy?

How do you assess intentions in various situations, including your own intentions?

What are your intentions in relation to real democracy?

What do you know about real ethics and fake ethics?

How do you usually ascertain necessity?

And what does ascertaining necessity have to do with real democracy, if anything?

How do you place value on necessity.

Perhaps you associate real democracy with political pleasantness rather than political unpleasantness.

You may even associate real democracy with genuine political philanthropy.

How do you distinguish between patronage and philanthropy?

What is the place of satire in real democracies, especially quality political satire?

When have you regarded satire as a form of philanthropy in the service of real democracy?

How do you gain important insights into real democracy?

How do you know when an insight is important?

You may regard democracy as a powerful tool for good in the world, yet the world continues to have no real democracies at all.

The people who believe real democracies exist are susceptible to defining concepts in fickle ways rather than on the basis of evidence.

Do you pity such people?

When the powerless pity the powerful, the powerless gain power.

Who is powerless, and why?

Who is powerful, and why? 

How does real democracy distribute political power in societies and between societies, if at all?

How does your political philanthropy contribute to the equitable distribution of any sort of power?

Do you usually regard the development of quality democracies as work or recreation or something between the two, like a practical hobby?

Do you usually regard political philanthropy as a practical hobby?

Democracy is meant to be effective, accountable, honest and fair. 

Real democracy is a peaceful process.  It involves clear reasoning and consistent civility instead of an absurd shouting match.

If enough people in enough places are willing to practice political philanthropy properly then real democracy can thrive.

You may already express enlightened benevolence through appropriately humane principles, policies and practices.

If so, do you do so mainly as an individual or mainly as part of a group?

Perhaps you mainly act as an individual within a group situation, particularly if you have dictatorial tendencies.

Perhaps you feel frustrated when people do not share your point of view.

Perhaps you feel angry when people do not follow your suggestions, guidance and/or instructions. 

Real democracy encourages well-informed initiative and the appropriate communication of information.

How do you know when the communication of information is appropriate?

The ethics of enlightened individuals, and enlightened communities, express the well-informed kindness of elegant egalitarianism, respect for privacy, awareness of individuality and support for enlightened approaches to democracy.  

The aesthetics of enlightened individuals, and enlightened communities, express whatever each person wishes to express, in keeping with available resources, health, safety, practicality, beauty, environmental sensitivity and peaceful community standards.

There are many reasonable concerns in the world, particularly about politics.

What is democratic leadership, in your view?

What is democracy in practice?

How do you attempt to improve democracy? 

If democracy is good, why do elected persons cause so much harm?

What makes elections good, and what does not? 

Democracy is often no more than a platitude.

Real democracy arises through the process of thoughtful reciprocity.

But what does that mean in practice?

Perhaps you regard your political philanthropy as an expression of thoughtful reciprocity rather than as a form of altruism.  That is especially likely to be the case if you do not have large amounts of money to donate.

You may regard legitimate trade as a form of thoughtful reciprocity.

You may regard ethically informed purchasing practices as a form of thoughtful reciprocity.

You may regard enlightened voting as a form of thoughtful reciprocity.

How, then, are you investing in thoughtful reciprocity and for what reasons?

The information you are currently reading is an expression of ethical altruism.  Its purpose is to help you make the world a much better place than it would be without you.

What have you discovered about the necessity for political reform, and where?

And how and where have you attempted to acquire the most suitable skills for the necessary, democratic leadership required of you?

You may already know that all political donations are bribes and therefore unethical.

Those bribes are mainly used for propaganda purposes, through the mass media and social media and through the printing of leaflets and posters.

The money is not used towards the improvement of societies through the expression of humane principles, policies and practices.

In many purportedly democratic countries, the money acquired through donations/bribes is primarily transferred from political organisations to advertising companies, media companies, social media companies, and other manipulators of minds. 

The purpose of the propaganda is to persuade "voters" that the governments they "elect" at the ballot box are competent.

But what is political competency in a real democracy?

When political power is gained mainly through simplistic marketing campaigns rather than intelligent discussions, what is the result?

The hierarchical organisational structures so often put in place by bullies are not conducive to well-informed kindness, intelligent frugality and elegant egalitarianism.

Nor do they offer anything positive towards the development of good reasoning, good manners and enlightened democracies.

When organisational structures and systems are undemocratic, and possibly even anti-democratic, they do nothing to educate people about real democracies and how to implement them.

Undemocratic governments, like anti-democratic ones, fail the powerless.  

Real democracies do not.

In the parallel world of the second Age of Enlightenment, real democracies have a chance to thrive in every society.

But what is the chance in the "real" world?

Do you associate democracy with palaces or cottages?

Do you usually associate palaces or cottages with the development and maintenance of enlightened democracies?

Do you usually associate your philanthropy with the development and maintenance of enlightened democracies and/or the development and/or maintenance of one or more buildings? 

If you believe your political philanthropy is a reflection of real democracy, how consistently do you act in the public interest?

Do you regard your contributions to real democracy to be a form of well-informed investing?

If you believe you are supporting public interest journalism sufficiently well as part of your contribution towards real democratic practices, how do you know? 

If you believe you are supporting public interest satire sufficiently well as part of your contribution towards real democratic practices, how do you know?

If you believe you are practicing strategic pity sufficiently well as part of your contribution towards real democratic practices, how do you know?

How are you holding the rich, the powerful and the influential to account for their inadequate contributions towards real democracy?

How have you been conducting investigations into the absence of real democracy in the world, and what have been your findings?

How have quality journalists and other researchers been assisting you?

Who, if anyone, has been putting obstacles in your way, and how?

What have you discovered about quality citizen journalism as political philanthropy, and as an expression of real democracy?

When governments confuse greedy profiteering with productivity, and possibly even prosperity, those governments should be replaced with ones more capable of discerning the truth and acting in the public interest.

Yet the public has little power in that regard, even in purported democracies.

Who, then, does have power?

Why is the public quite powerless to develop real democracies?

How do you decide which governments, if any, are adequately democratic in relative terms?

Politicians with a disdain for democracy regard citizens as tourists and/or nuisances and/or as potential donors and/or props for promotional campaigns.

Perhaps your attitude is that of an undemocratic politician and/or gullible tourist.

In politics, as in business, the unscrupulous pretend to be helpful while actually causing helplessness.

The same applies in charitable organisations when the people working for an organisation regard its continuation, and possibly even its prestige, as more important than compassion.

Democracy is often mistaken for human rights, particularly civil and political rights.

Such rights are obviously important expressions of democracy, in much the same way as free and fair elections, yet the true essence of democracy is public policy in the public interest. 

How, then, is such policy developed and implemented?

Real democracies are reflections of quality public policies yet quality is difficult to achieve in any situation unless suitable knowledge, skills and other resources are available.

How, then, does your political philanthropy involve investing in better governments?

Perhaps you believe you are contributing to information campaigns and educational campaigns, in the public interest.

Better governments reflect real democracy.  The people associated with those governments, as representatives, employees, appointees or contractors, should reflect real democracy with adequate consistency.

Which other organisations, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, reflect real democracy, if any?

Who is addressing the future responsibly, and how do you know?

What do you know about the heritage and future of Adelaide?

A quality democracy can only be maintained by investing in quality journalism, whether those investments mainly take the form of time or another resource.

But how can quality democracies be developed if not through suitable political organisations?

Quality journalism expresses the view that peacefully authentic living is a necessary prerequisite if quality democracies are to develop sustainably.

Civility is necessary for the improvement of democracy.

How consistently do you express civility through your political philanthropy?

How do you usually assess the secular and the sacred in relation to democracy?

How have you assessed interpretations of democracies and non-democracies?

Which books have influenced your views about real democracies and other societies?

Where have you sought advice on how to contribute towards improving one or more democracies?

Where have you sought advice on transforming a non-democracy into a democracy?

Where have you conducted research on the obstacles to overcome and how to overcome them?

Real democracy involves practicing editing in the public interest.

Any editing for other purposes is either for commercial purposes or corrupt purposes or both.

How do your activities support the patrons of the public interest?

How does your planning support the public interest, whether you regard yourself as a journalist, a patron, a philanthropist or an activist.

Perhaps you equate most journalism with storytime rather than democracy. 

Perhaps your silence about real democracy, real philanthropy, real politics and real ethics reflects the possible fact that you do not really care about democracy at all.

Perhaps you do not believe the purpose of wealth is to improve the world on a long-term basis.

Perhaps you believe your activities on twitter or elsewhere online are sufficient contributions to real democracy.

Yet real democracy is a way of life, not simply a tweet or two.

How are you addressing the erosion of democracy?

How are you addressing the erosion of landscapes?

How do you address the absence of public trust in politicians and other people with considerable power?

Perhaps you are not yet aware that investing in the Adelaidezone is one of the best ways to experience real democracy.

What are your perceptions of the Adelaidezone, and how did you acquire them?

How are you investing in fruitful editing for the greater good?

How do you define the features of a properly functioning democracy?

Real democracies do not tolerate bullying of any sort.

If a 'fair go' should be regarded as the essence of Australian democracy, why is Australian egalitarianism mostly a sham?

How, if at all, do you attempt to contribute to elegant egalitarianism, and where? 

When, if ever, have you been investing with Adelaide? 

How and where, if anywhere, are you investing in urgent reforms?

How and where, if anywhere, are you investing in the very best mental health?

How and where, if anywhere, are you investing in political kindness?

How do you investments support real democracy?

What proportion of your investments are expressions of your political philanthropy?

What do you know about Galgano Guidotti?

What do you know about swords in stones?

How do you compare Merlin with Twaklin?