In Classic Greece, the image of established order determines political structure. Any violation of that is considered blasphemous because it defies the norm that guarantees social interaction. Democracy is more a way of life than a form of government in which the citizen must participate and remain well informed of the things of the republic.
“If each one of us, of any state or condition, has any knowledge in virtue, is obliged to procure the good of the city,” Percicles once said. “That person won’t be named for any position or honours for his lineage, but only because of his virtue and benevolence.” They called idiotés to those who didn’t participate in things related to the community.
The essential virtue of that who governs is to achieve the concord of the city, the general participation of its peoples and the appreciation of the ideals for the positions of responsibility.
Overwhelmed by disconcerted electoral campaigns, we have to search for authentic democracy and not for demagogic bidding. It’s perplexing any country to listen to candidates who don’t debate problems and the possible solutions, looking for the common good, not that of factions. Since the debate between Nixon and Kennedy, television is the agora in front of which we are witnesses as protagonists, rather than as voting marketing objects. For their disqualifications and common grounds we ask ourselves why they don’t wear masks to better reflect the person they hide. They vanish big problems of a mutating world, of a society that is interrelated with the rest of the world, of the consequences of a globalized economy, of technologies that without borders, with devastating effects on the natural environment. They silence our supra-national compromises, our responsibility in the geographical area of our surroundings, our dependence on the raw materials of other communities and the attitude changes in the relationships with peoples that no longer fit their states.
The emerging civil society has put its trust on cross-culture, solidarity, respect for diversity and the acknowledgement of the values of difference; we denounce obsolete political strategies created market through pensions and promises they never accomplished when they were in government. We are in a plain revolution of information and communications while our leaders get lost in their own interests.
We must affirm, through critical thinking, our condition as citizens: the plenitude of the humane in the human being.

José Carlos García Fajardo
Profesor of Contemporary Social and Political Thought. CCS Director
Translated by Carlos Miguélez
fajardoccs@solidarios.org.es