The Greatest Threat to Democracy

 

Despite all of that, the Fidesz-dominated Hungarian Parliament passed the Fourth Amendment with the governing party’s reliable two-thirds majority because, say governmental spokespeople, these are mere “technical” amendments that should not cause anyone concern.

 

What does this remind me of... oh yeah this:

 

"The Canadian public don't care about the maneuvers in Parliament and the wording of various motions."

 

Of course, Harper is probably right.  Canadians consider themselves too busy, too otherwise-engaged to worry about the slow erosion of our democratic institutions.  We are at best indifferent to the even worse erosion happening steadily beyond our borders, even in supposedly "safe" countries like Hungary - and this, not for the first time. 

 

Have we not learned?  We can pretend not to see, we can pretend not to hear because we choose not to be responsible - but we are responsible.  Democracies at all levels require the proactive participation of their members.  Totalitarianism is a social cancer that recognizes no borders, but it doesn't happen out of the blue, on its own - the disaffection of the masses lets it happen.

The biggest threat to democracy isn't external terrorism or The Mule, but the indifference of its people.


The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.
  
    -  Elie Wiesel