Do You Support Democracy?

The definition of Democracy is: "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system."

To have a democracy, then, you have to trust the people. Trust them to listen to and read all points of view, all kinds of opinions, and eventually the majority of the people will settle on the truth and move forward with that. Never will every individual see the truth, of course, but the majority will.

Don't want to allow "misinformation"? Then you do not trust the people and are not a supporter of democracy, but an advocate of autocracy. Who chose and appointed you to decide for others what is misinformation and what is true? You have the right to decide for yourself, true, but not the right to decide for others.

Do you only want "experts" and "professionals" to be able to speak out on issues? Then you are a worshipper following a religion, where only the "ordained priests" have the right to decide the truth. You do not trust the people. You are not a supporter of democracy. You are a supporter of an authoritarian religion.

ALL necessary information should be freely available to everyone, and everyone should be able to debate it with others in public and private without being censored, marginalized, or "shadow banned". They should be able to question the facts and find answers. Freedom of thought and freedom of speech are both essential to a democracy.

I find a lot of words of support for democracy from those who are doing their best to destroy it and establish a elitist technocracy where only the "properly educated" can be allowed to speak, be heard, and be debated. That sort of system is NOT a democracy. Where it's government partners with corporations to decide what information people can or can't hear, read, and discuss they are promoting corporatism (better known as fascism)and are no supporters or friends of democracy.

The only limits to free speech should be 1. manners and common courtesy - in other words considering others and being kind to those with who you disagree. 2. Not advocating violence against any person or group because of what they believe or advocate for. These both call for individual character and self-control. Lack of these, not free speech itself, is responsible for much of what makes us so nasty today. Jesus' command to "do unto others as we would have them do unto us" are as relevant today as 2000 years ago.

Government should only be involved in the last case. And then only if violence was openly advocated, not because some other nutcase used what was said or written as an excuse to act violently. There should have to be a direct and proveable connection, with proveable intent on the part of the speaker or writer.