Post-Democracism and Resistance
Ghandi was right when he joked that Western democracy was a great idea, someone should give it a go. Even in ancient Greece, the ‘cradle of democracy’, large portions of the population were excluded from participation. Not only were women and slaves denied even their most basic human rights, but even many 'free' men could not afford to take office, because in those days politicians didn’t get paid a salary by the state.
In modern times the situation only got worse. To make any significant difference, leave alone gain office, politicians need to form or join a party. For such party to be successful, it needs to spend lots of money on party organization and election campaigns. It also needs lots of publicity and that comes at a price too. You only need to watch how desperately U.S. presidential candidates are trying to earn brownie points with the likes of Rupert Murdoch. Whoever brings in the most donations and media support has the most power within a party organization. This is how parties get corrupted by lobby interests, in America and everywhere.
