By displaying indifference towards the issues and decisions that affect society, people not only waste their valuable freedom of expression but also make a mockery of the system of elections, voting on only the most superficial grounds and sometimes not even at all. This being the case there is very little argument that would support contemporary democracy over a dictatorship or even an anarchy. It would seem then that Oscar Wilde was right when he said, Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.

Evidence of this is all around us. Look for instance at the way we, as a people, view and elect governments. It will usually start with dissatisfaction with the government in power, not necessarily on any issue of policy. But simply because Australians seem to have an inherent urge to anathematize authority figures. Ask an Australian for instance, what he thinks of the Prime Minister. "He’s a dickhead" would be your most common response. If you were to press further and enquire the grounds for this assertion you would probably find that 80% of the time, it is simply hating authority for the sake of it.

According to many studies conducted over the years, citizens generally report that they are dissatisfied with the government as a whole, but pleased with their local representatives, who had pledged, during their campaigns, to make waves in government and to clean up the graft and inefficiency of the bureaucracy. However, the voters have are not informed of what their representatives have done in office and, with the exception of election time, nor do they care. This is a situation that is not only present in Australia, it happens all over the world, as a general rule in western liberal democracies it can be said that the view and participation people have of government is either highly superficial or non existent.

So what happened to the spirit of participation and commitment to democratic ideals that we saw so vehemently expressed by a generation that actually fought for it. I would say that we have grown complacent and no longer care about the social and political infrastructure on which our society is based

The reasons for this are threefold. Firstly that, as mentioned before, we have become indifferent towards our freedom. Secondly, that since democracy, as with communism, relies on a collective involvement of the people in the perpetuation of the system, the egotism promoted by capitalism (a skeleton in the closet of democracy) undermines the very system on which it (democracy) is based.