Democracy

This is a very interesting topic. On first glance Democracy seems to be the ideal choice. Empowering the population, having the government work for the people, it is a perfect idea. And with a thorough check Democracy “is” the best we have.

But there are some problems with it, not because the system itself is flawed, but because those participating in the democratic process are flawed. We assume that an educated population makes informed decisions. They know what they are voting for, and they understand the issues and its consequences. However, this is never true. We sit here and talk about how the "uneducated" of Iraq, Pakistan and other countries are unable to vote because they have no idea. Some people believe that "People in Pakistan vote for anything without understanding the core issues". This is something that is regrettable and causes the deterioration of the democratic process. By not understanding the core issues, people may vote based on simple two line descriptions of proposed laws, proposed laws may be so long that it may hide key clauses in the middle, companies may take advantage of the idiocy of the population for their own advantage, the list goes on…

But now with all that stated can we say ourselves that the population of the South Africa is uneducated as well? That because our population is uneducated, that our democracy is threatened and even comprised often? I know people who vote for a candidate based on a single issue without realizing the other positions affect them adversely, or they will vote a straight ticket because they assume a party holds the same values, they will vote on a candidate based on "what they heard". Most people don't even concern themselves with the political process except for once every four years where they will pay attention to the news the week before the election.
However, it is easily evident that at least some people participate in such a process they way it should be intended. There are informed people...