The Dangers of Abolishing Democracy
Posted on September. 7. 2020
“Eternal vigilance is the
price of democracy.”
Thomas Jefferson
Z. S. Andrew Demirdjian, Ph.D.
Award Winning Author / Scholar
Mr. Appo Jabarian, the Executive Publisher and the Managing Editor of the USA Armenian Life Magazine and Hye Kiank (The Armenian edition) published a breaking news in his journal dated August 21-27, 2020, indicating that the Armenians in France and Bulgaria had joined a global movement against Catholicos Karekin II’s and Abp. Hovnan Derderian’s attempts to abolish democracy in the Armenian Church.
As a proud member of the Armenian Orthodox Church, this was very alarming news to ignore for there are many lurking dangers when democracy dies. Therefore, I would like to address some of the issues involving the transformation from a democratic to an oligarchic style of governance of our church.
One of the great things about democracy is that it allows anyone to rise into positions of power. By the same token, one of the worst things about it is that it allows anyone to rise in influence and power regardless of their personality and character shortcomings.
operate in darkness. Let all concerned Diaspora members strive to keep the
beacon of democracy shine in their beloved Armenian Orthodox Church of the
millennia to discourage corruption.
History has shown us that one of the worst problems the human race has had is to allow people rise into positions of power, which should not be entrusted with power. Studies have shown that the desire for power correlates with negative personality traits, such as selfishness, greed, lack of grace and compassion for others. It seems that the people who have the strongest desire for power tend to be the most ruthless and the least compassionate persons.
Once these dubious people attain power, they invariably devote themselves to increasing and protecting their power with little or no regard for the welfare of others. In recent decades, for example, many African countries have suffered by leaders to become ruthless, self-centered, and lacking empathy and responsibility after being democratically elected to office. Just to mention a few examples of self-centered leaders, Charles Taylor of Liberia, Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, and Saddam Husein of Iraq. One of the dangers of democracy is to give a chance to the wrong individual to prove himself or herself as a psychopath.
The main question here is as to why leaders after being elected try to move away from democracy? Why do they shy away from democracy? Why do they want to kill democracy is one of the most important questions? We shall see that the answer will incriminate those leaders who engage in such attempts to move from a democratic to an oligarchic style of governance and let democracy die.
To answer the above question, let us go back to the 1700s. “The origin of civil government,” stated David Hume (a Scottish philosopher) in 1739, is that “men are not able radically to cure, either in themselves or others, that narrowness of soul, which makes them prefer the present to the remote.” In other words, egocentric leaders are concerned about their own present situation rather than considering the implications of their selfish acts on the future generations.
So, in order to camouflage their selfish acts from the scrutiny of a democratic style of governance, they seek to drift away from the beacon of democracy to hide their surreptitious behavior of corruption. As you well know, crooks operate better in total darkness. This would be one of the most dangerous thing to do is to let our present leaders do away with democracy so that they would hide their illicit acts.
Hume was convinced that the institutions of government, such as political representatives and parliamentary debates, would serve to temper our impulsive and selfish desires and foster society’s long-term interests and welfare.
Moreover, democracy is designed to protect us from these types of tyrants by providing constitutional checks and balances, which prevent them from continuing to behave selfishly once they have attained power. Therefore, we should stay vigilant about the dangers of abolishing democracy in our Armenian Church for the consequences are too costly for our future generations. As a result, we should join forces with the Armenian Diaspora in France, Bulgaria or in any country to not let anyone trample our beloved church by curbing the impulsive and self-fish desires for personal gains of our present so-called leaders.
One of the main dangers of abolishing democracy is to let our nefarious leaders operate in darkness. Let all concerned Diaspora members strive to keep the beacon of democracy shine in their beloved Armenian Orthodox Church of the millennia to discourage corruption.
About The Author:
Dr. Z. S. Andrew Demirdjian is the author of many important books and numerous scholarly works. He devotes a lot of his time to writing on Armenian pressing issues. He is a professor emeritus of social and behavioral sciences at the California State University, Long Beach.
Dr. Z. S. Andrew Demirdjian’s research interests lie in social and behavioral sciences. During his academic career, he has published 100s of articles and editorials in refereed journals and has received over 35 best paper/author awards for his research studies. Dr. Demirdjian is more than a top-notch scholar, he has an extensive track record in consulting various profit and not-for-profit organizations spanning over twenty-five years.