*le sigh*

The word "democracy" is being used as an excuse to do so many bad things at the moment that it's almost become the new "Christianity" circa the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition.

The Sydney Morning Herald's Miranda Divine says today in her column that we should be willing to give up our freedoms to protect democracy. And she also says:

The opposition Western democracies face from within, from armchair critics in an era of instant comment and saturation information, has the potential to undermine national security as never before.

Personally, I'm not sure. I thought the point of democracy was that people could all have a say, armchair critic or otherwise, and that people would be allowed to hold opinions that differed from one person to the next. Saying that people who question what the government of their Western democracy is doing are opposing it is small-minded and misses the point of what democracy is actually about.

I'm sure the early Greek and Roman founders of democratic principles and politics are positively whizzing around in their graves at the moment.

Democracy is an amazing balancing act that should be protecting freedoms rather than insisting that people give them up.

Taking away the freedoms of citizens does diminish a country's standing as a democracy, anyway. We've criticised so many other countries for this in the past. Democracy is meant to be all about the citizens and working from their perspective for their best interests. Although some elements of the new anti-terror laws probably are in our interests, there are also some elements that are not and are truly not democratic.

Democratic processes are also meant to be transparent and allow time for debate and consideration. Not hush-hush and rushed through parliament with anyone saying, "Why don't we discuss this?" being accused of being sympathetic to terrorists.

It's come to a pretty pass when people who question things and want discussion in democratic ways that will result in, hopefully, the best for all people are accused of being against the West, the government and democracy. Instead of being able to have free and open discussion and the involvement of representatives of all kinds of people, we get fingers pointed at those who question with accusations of being "undemocratic," "unaustralian," and so on rather than an intelligent counter-debate.

But I guess, just as it was back in Greek times, people are just as scared of those who question and encourage others to question as they are of terrorists.