I lived and worked in communist-socialist China for 16 years, where I witnessed REAL people's democracy on a daily basis. It is very inclusive and consensual. If a plurality of the people are against a proposed law, it gets tabled until the citizens' concerns are addressed.
The three leading democracies–Switzerland, China, and Singapore–are all non-Athenian and each has a unique way of implementing the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Switzerland uses expensive, time-consuming direct democracy.
China employs its 3000-person Congress to scrutinize all official appointments and legislation and requires support from two-thirds of them to approve all actions.
Singapore's model blends Confucian officialdom and British Parliamentarianism.
One possible conclusion we might make from these three successes is that our Athenian/Roman model is the worst of all possible worlds!
You are certainly right in thinking that "democracy" has been often misunderstood/misused. However, it is not obvious that the examples you have introduced actually illustrate cases where the will of the proletariat specifically has been over ruled. They seem to be cases where the will of voters of whatever class were over ruled. Your general point is correct: they are cases where democracy has been subverted.
I lived and worked in communist-socialist China for 16 years, where I witnessed REAL people's democracy on a daily basis. It is very inclusive and consensual. If a plurality of the people are against a proposed law, it gets tabled until the citizens' concerns are addressed.
I have written much about Chinese democracy,
https://chinarising.puntopress.com/search/?q=democracy
Socialist countries have true democracy. Capitalist countries have Kabuki democracy that only serves the interests of the 1% oligarchs.
The three leading democracies–Switzerland, China, and Singapore–are all non-Athenian and each has a unique way of implementing the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Switzerland uses expensive, time-consuming direct democracy.
China employs its 3000-person Congress to scrutinize all official appointments and legislation and requires support from two-thirds of them to approve all actions.
Singapore's model blends Confucian officialdom and British Parliamentarianism.
One possible conclusion we might make from these three successes is that our Athenian/Roman model is the worst of all possible worlds!
You are certainly right in thinking that "democracy" has been often misunderstood/misused. However, it is not obvious that the examples you have introduced actually illustrate cases where the will of the proletariat specifically has been over ruled. They seem to be cases where the will of voters of whatever class were over ruled. Your general point is correct: they are cases where democracy has been subverted.
Good read, Esha!