Democracy is a great teacher. Literature abounds with evidence of free citizens criticizing politicians or the way they are ruled. Experience enhances discernment.

Shakespeare’s King Lear said: “Get thee glass eyes; and like a scurvy politician, seem to see the things thou dost not.”

Hundreds of years before Shakespeare, Cicero said in the first century BC: “Persistence in one opinion has never been considered a merit in political leaders.”

Anatole France remarked scathingly: “I am not so devoid of all talents as to occupy myself with politics.”

Lest one thinks that these are opinions shared only by thinkers and writers, it may be worth pointing out that hardened political practitioners express similar thoughts from time to time.

Charles De Gaulle once said: “Since a politician never believes what he says, he is surprised when others believe him.”

Nikita Khrushchev had an equally poor opinion of politicians. He said that politicians are the same all over. “They promise to build a bridge where there is no river,” he added.

And Winston Churchill had this to say in one of his reflective moods: “It would be a great reform in politics if wisdom could be made to spread as easily and as rapidly as folly.”

Electoral dissatisfaction

The truth is that, as democracy struggles to find its feet, electors are faced with situations that challenge their confidence and, sometimes, their judgment.

They meet political pygmies who pose as statesmen, political tricksters and amateurs who outnumber solid citizens with authentic qualities of leadership.

All of this leads electors to doubt the future of the democratic system and its institutions at given moments. It is true to say that this form of dissatisfaction with politics sometimes runs deep in these islands as it does abroad. What is the cause of all this?

One explanation is that we have not yet properly assimilated many of the changes spurred by the evolution of democracy. Universal suffrage came to Malta only after World War II. Women became entitled to vote only after the introduction of the McMichael Constitution – and that after a heated debate in the National Assembly convened in the first half of the 1940s at which I was present.

It is no wonder that we are still in the early stages of coping with the problems presented by everyone having a vote and by political parties who strongly opposed votes for women then and champion women’s rights now.

Party politics

The evolution of political parties leaves little room for independent politicians. Political parties now mobilise electoral opinion with increasing efficiency, leaving only a restricted space for dissidence.

On the other hand, once a strong two-party system takes root, discouraging the rise of third or more parties, the leading parties have to decide whether they are ready to provide room for different “currents” within their ranks. Diversification and discipline are sources of perplexity, particularly so among uninitiated electors.

Party politics oftentimes influences the attitude of some electors who are ready to jump on the bandwagon of clientelism. These electors brandish the standard question; “What can you do for me?” implying that they are inclined to look at party electoral programmes as a series of promises for electoral votes.

The effects of the rapid spread of education equipped large chunks of the electorate with the intellectual ability to criticise and question almost everything, and pluralism in the broadcasting media has supplied tools for the critics who, perhaps, tend to be outnumbered and crowded out of the airwaves by the unenlightened chattering class.

The impact of the communications media has had its bad as well as its good effects. It often happens that the media radically influences the judgment of the electorate on politics and politicians.

The advance of technology and the impact of consumerism offer distractions, particularly for the young, who tend to be indifferent to politics and politicians, and may be scandalized or frustrated by politics at an early stage.

All of this – and more – offers a partial explanation of the disbelief or disillusion one notices today at given moments.

Rhythm of change

The rhythm of change has been tremendous and continuous. It is no surprise that the democratic system is, at all times, under cross-examination.

Yet, the questioning and the scepticism are healthy. Democracies become all the stronger when new assumptions and old ideas are tested in the fire of free debate.

It would be a mistake to try to look for one unalterable answer that will solve all problems. There is no panacea to solve different situations.

Provided fundamental rights are respected, and provided that further solutions are sought in an atmosphere of tolerance, democracy is the least unpalatable of political systems. It is a system that relies, in the long run, on responsibility and independence and one that offers an alternative to any situation.

Maltese milieu

Our democracy has not flowered in full – but it is not moribund notwithstanding the fiery, sometimes wild, speeches and incredible accusations that blister in the heat of debate. In the end, it is the electorate who is the sovereign master in its own home and has the final say.More and more electors are coming round to the conviction that they hold in their hands the power to force the pace of change and to opt for alternatives, if and when dissatisfied. What is more important is the fact that they are more disposed than ever to exercise that power.

These electors have learned, perhaps to their cost, that ignorance is the night of the mind and that although the good Lord may provide the grain, it is they who must make the furrow.

There is a wise Chinese adage, which says that when a man stumbles and falls, he must not blame his foot.

More and more ‘floating voters’ are learning from their slowly accumulating experience and I am inclined to the optimistic view that Maltese electors are no means slow on the uptake.

This will stimulate a need felt by more electors to wade in the clear waters of democracy. Enlightened electors will increasingly look down on politicians “who live near the temple and constantly deride the gods”.

In an environment where man is free, democracy is a great teacher. What’s more, it has the patience to wait for the laggards to catch up with the bright pupils in the class.

[email protected]